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BOOK  974. C  152  v.  1  1898  ed  c.  2 
CAMPBELL  #  PURITAN  IN  HOLLAND 
ENGLAND   &    AM    1892 


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http://www.archive.org/details/puritaninholland01camp 


Fac-Simile  of     letlev    from    ihe   Right   Honorable   W,  E.  Gladsrorre   to   Mr.  Douglas   Campbell,  concerning 
"  The    Puritan   in    Holland,   England,  and   .^merita." 


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THE  PURITAN 

IN 

HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

AJSr  INTRODUCTION 

TO 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 


BY 

DOUGLAS   CAMPBELL,  A.M.,  LL.B. 

MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 
FOURTH  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  CORRECTED 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES 

YoL.  L 


NEW  YOKK  AND  LONDON 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

1898 


Copyright,  1892,  by  Douglas  Campbell. 
All  rights  reserved. 


CONTENTS 


THE    FIRST    VOLUME 


PREFACE 

PAGB 

Reasons  for  writing  another  book  about  the  Puritans ....    xxiii 

Investigations  among  early  New  York  records xxiv 

New  England  institutions  found  in  New  York  when  a 

Dutch  colony , xxiv 

Holland  must  have  been  a  common  source,  as  they  did 

not  come  from  England xxv 

Search  for  others. — Puritanism  as  a  political  force  began 

in  Holland xxvi 

The  war  with  Spain  a  Puritan  war. — Great  number  of 

Englishmen  in  the  Netherlands xxviii 

[nfluence  on  England  overlooked  by  English  historians.  .      xxix 
Influence   on   America  more   marked,  but  equally   over- 
looked           XXX 

Incompleteness  of  American  history,  and  its  causes. — 
Written  only  from  English  standpoint. — English  self- 
appreciation  xxxi 

Another  cause. — Scientific  historical  investigation  of  very 

modern  growth xxxiii 

All  histories  being  rewritten xxxiv 

Dangers  of  early  writers  in  Europe xxxv 

Until  a  recent  date,  government  archives  closed  to  the 

public xxxvi 

Difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  examination  in  England .  xxxvii 


iv  CONTENTS 

PAaa 
Little  attention  paid  to  foreign  history  when  American 

history  first  written xxxix 

Results  of  modern  investigation xl 

Early  American  history  where  Bancroft  left  it  fifty  years 

ago . . , xli 

History  of  English  Puritanism   unintelligible  as  usually 

written,  and  why xli 

Neglect  of  the  influence  of  the  Netherland  Republic ....  xliii 
When  America  settled,  Holland,  in   general  civilization, 

led  the  world  by  about  two  centuries xlv 

New  England  Puritans  misrepresented  in  history xlvi 

Modes  of  meeting  charges  against  them xlvii 

English,  and  not  Puritan,  defects  of  character  exhibited 

in  America xlix 

The  whole  truth  regarding  English  civilization  the  vindi- 
cation of  the  New  England  Puritans 1 

Scope  of  this  work 11 

INTRODUCTION 

THE    PEOPLE    AND   INSTITUTIONS   OP   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Assumption  of  most  writers  that  the  people  of  the  United 

States  are  an  English  race  with  English  institutions, ...  1 

Effects  on  American  history 2 

How  this  idea  has  been  developed 3 

Ignorance  of  Englishmen  regarding  America 5 

For  Americans  no  such  excuse 6 

American  people   always   cosmopolitan.  —  Some   of  their 

leading  men  in  colonial  days 7 

Middle  colonies  at  time  of  Revolution. — Half  of  population 

not  English 9 

Leading  institutions  of  United  States  not  of  English  origin,  11 

Influence  of  institutions  upon  national  character. 11 

No  State  Church  as  in  England. — Its  importance  there. ,  .  12 

Its  abolition  in  the  United  States 15 

Principle  of  civil  equality  underlying  American  system. — Its 

derivation 16 


CONTENTS  V 

PAGE 

The  written  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  Eng- 
land's unwritten  Constitution l"? 

The  President,  Senate,  House  of  Representatives,  and  Su- 
preme Court. — Not  English 19 

How  regarded  by  English  statesmen 20 

The   state   constitutions   more   important  as  showing  the 

growth  of  American  institutions 22 

Their  development  and  provisions 23 

Distribution  of  land  in  England,  and  its  effects. — Primo- 
geniture    25 

Obstacles  to  its  alienation. — No  recording  system 26 

Enclosure  of  English  common  lands 27 

England  entering  on  an  era  of  change 27 

Distribution  of  land  in  the  United  States. — Its  importance.  29 

Popular  education  in  America. — Its  early  date 30 

Popular  education  in  England. — Its  recent  date 32 

Opposition  of  the  governing  classes 33 

Public  libraries  in  England  and  America 35 

Free  high  schools  and  colleges 36 

Defects  in  English  university  education. —  Why  American 

students  go  to  the  Continent 38 

Rapid  progress  of  American  colleges 41 

Local  self-government. — The  English  system  incomprehen- 
sible    42 

The  American  system,  township,  county,  and  state 44 

Importance  of  the  townships. — The  system  not  English.  . .  45 
Religious  liberty  in  England  and  America. — Date  of  its 

introduction 47 

Freedom  of  the  press. — Date  of  its  introduction 48 

The  written  ballot. — Date  of  its  introduction 51 

English  and  American  charitable  institutions  contrasted. . .  54 

Prison  reforms. — Debt  of  England  to  America 55 

America's  reformatory  institutions  copied  in  Europe 57 

America's  legal  system  and  its  origin 59 

Opposition  of  the  colonists  to  English  jurisprudence 61 

Modern  jurisprudence  derived  from  the  Roman  law 63 


vi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  character  of  this  law 64 

Influence  of  ancient  Rome  on  modern  society 65 

Rome  when  the  civil  law  took  its  present  form 68 

American  legal  reforms  copied  by  England VO 

America's  debt  to  England — language,  literature,  character, 

Yankeeisms,  etc „ Y2 

The  theory  that  the  institutions  of  America  were  invented 

by  the  early  settlers 74 

America  the  old  world 76 

The  institutions  of  America  very  old;  partly  Roman,  partly 

Germanic 77 

The  Netherlands  preserved  Roman   institutions   and  Ger- 
manic ideas  of  freedom 78 

The  home  of  the  English  race  and  the  instructors  of  England  79 

Causes  and  effects  of  England's  prejudice  against  the  Dutch  79 

Americans  should  not  share  it 82 

Importance  of  Netherland  history  to  the  modern  student. .  83 
The  Netherland  Republic  as  contrasted  with  monarchical  and 

aristocratic  England  in  learning,  art,  and  public  morals, .  84 
The  English  have  never  understood  republicans  in  Holland 

or  America 87 

Puritanism  and  American  institutions 88 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  NETHERLANDS  BEFORE  THE  WAR  WITH   SPAIN 

THE   COUNTKY   AKD   ITS  PEOPLE,  AGRICULTURE,  MANUFACTURES,  COM- 
MERCE, AND   ART 

The  Puritan  of  Holland 90 

The  country  of  the  Netherlanders  a  conquest  of  man 92 

The  geographical  factor  in  history. — England  an  illustration  95 

Its  importance  in  the  Netherlands 96 

Influence  on  the  national  character 98 

The  importance  of  the  human  factor 100 

The  early  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands 101 

Germans  in  the  North,  Celts  in  the  South,  the  foremost  of 

their  races 101 


CONTENTS  VH 

PAGE 

Their  cliaracteristics 102 

The  Hollanders  preserved  their  Germanic  spirit 104 

Connection  with  Rome  and  Italy. — Its  influence 105 

Contrast  between  England  and  the  Continent 106 

Italy   never  became  barbarian. — The    crusades   and  their 

results 108 

Italians  in  the  Netherlands 110 

Development  of  agriculture. — The  Netherlands  become  the 

instructors  of  Europe Ill 

England's  backwardness 112 

Development  of  manufactures  and  commerce. — They  be- 
come the  manufacturing  centre  of  Europe 113 

Originate  woollen  manufactures 114 

Advance  in  the  fourteenth  century. — Wealth  and  luxury 

as  compared  with  France  and  England 115 

Outstrip  Italy  in  the  commercial  race 117 

Their  architecture,  ecclesiastical  and  secular 118 

Their  town-halls  the  delight  of  the  artist 120 

Private  dwellings,  their  furniture,  etc. — Comparison  with 

England 120 

Painting. — Founders  of  modern  art. — Discover  oil-painting  122 

Originate  portrait  and  landscape  painting 124 

Character  of  Netherland  art. — "  The  beautiful  the  splendor 

of  the  true  " 125 

Foremost  in  the  mechanical  arts,  jewelry,  tapestry,  etc. . . .  126 

Wood-engraving  their  discovery. , 127 

Printing  from  blocks 128 

Printing  from  type  its  natural  sequence. 128 

Music. — Furnished  music  and  musicians  to  Europe  for  two 

centuries 129 

CHAPTER  II 

THE  NETHERLANDS  BEFORE  THE  WAR  WITH  SPAIN 

THE  GUILDS,  THE  TOWT^S,  THE  STATE,  EDUCATION,  RELIGION,  AND  MORALS 

Contrast  between  Puritanism  in  the  Netherlands  and  in 
England,  and  causes  of  difference 131 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Condition  of  the  Netherlands  at  the  abdication  of  Charles 

v.,  1555 134 

Seventeen  separate  states,  each  with  its  individual  govern- 
ment.— Their  population 135 

Holland  and  the  herring  fishery 136 

The  towns  of  the  Netherlands,  a  survival  of  Roman  institu- 
tions.— Citadels  of  freedom 137 

Bruges  and  its  origin. — A  modern  town 139 

The  guilds,  partly  Roman  and  partly  German 140 

Their  organization  and  government. — Minor  republics. .  . .  142 

Spirit  of  equality  in  guilds 144 

Albert  Diirer  and  the  Painters'  Guild  of  Antwerp 145 

The  Netherland  towns,  their  charters  and  form  of  government  147 

Antwerp  a  type  of  the  larger  towns 148 

Town  government  in  Holland 150 

The  rural  districts. — Serfdom  abolished. — Condition  of  the 

peasants 151 

The  organization  of  the  State,  and  State  government. — No 

taxation  without  consent 152 

First  meeting  of  the  States-General,  1477 154 

The  Magna  Charta  of  Holland. — Its  provisions 155 

Freedom  of  trade  and  commerce 156 

Education. — Organization  of  the  "  Brethren  of  the  Life  in 

Common,"  1400 158 

Their  numerous  schools,  and  their  influence  on  education.  159 
Scholars  in  the  Netherlands. — Erasmus,  Vesalius,  St.  Alde- 

gonde,  etc 160 

Phenomenal  education  of  the  masses 161 

The  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands. — Heresy  an  old  story  162 
Early  editions  of  the  Bible  in  the  common  tongue. — More 

generally  read  than  in  any  other  country 163 

The  Reformation  begins  at  the  bottom  among  the  common 

people. — Its  exceptional  character 164 

Victims  of  the  Inquisition  greater  in  number  than  in  all 

the  rest  of  Europe 166 

Protestant  sects  in  the  Netherlands. — Lutherans,  Calvinists, 

and  Anabaptists 167 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

Religion  and  morality  not  necessarily  allied  in  Europe  in 

the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries 168 

This  severance  not  confined  to  the  Catholics 169 

Holland  a  moral  country,  and  so  the  bulwark  of  Protes- 
tantism    1 VO 

Private  and  public  integrity iVl 

High  position  of  her  women 172 

CHAPTER  III 
REVOLUTION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS  (1555-1574) 
Why  revolution  did  not  come  earlier. — Philip  II.  contrast- 
ed with  his  father,  Charles  V 173 

Eleven  years  of  misrule  and  Inquisition 174 

Origin  of  the  "  Beggars,"  1566 175 

The  Iconoclasts 176 

Philip  II.  and  his  chief  adviser,  the  Duke  of  Alva 177 

Bright  prospects  for  Spain  a  century  before 178 

How  her  liberty  was  destroyed 179 

Disastrous  effects  of   discovery   of  America   on   Spanish 

character 180 

Ruin  of  national  prosperity. — Military  greatness 181 

Alva  a  typical  Spanish  soldier  of  the  time. — His  arrival  in 

the  Netherlands,  1567 182 

The  Council  of  Blood 183 

Exodus  of  Netherlanders  to  England 184 

William  of  Orange 185 

His  undisciplined  armies  defeated  by  Alva 186 

The  "  Beggars  of  the  Sea." — Elizabeth's  seizure  of  Philip's 

money 188 

Alva's  financial  difficulties. — His  proposed  tax  and  its  effects  189 

Suspension  of  business,  and  Alva's  plan  for  its  renewal. .  .  192 

Capture  of  Brill  by  the  "  Beggars,"  1572 „ .  193 

General  uprising  in  the  northern  provinces 195 

Reorganization  of  the  government  by  a  popular  vote 197 

Bright  prospects  for  the  future,  1572 198 

France  friendly — deliverance  at  hand 200 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  its  causes  and  disastrous  re- 
sults in  the  Netherlands. — Elizabeth's  connection  with  it  201 

Cuts  off  all  hopes  of  French  assistance 203 

Holland  left  to  fight  alone 203 

Reliance  of  William  of  Orange  on  Providence. — Basis  of 

Puritanism 204 

Position  of  Holland,  and  character  of  the  war 205 

The  siege  of  Harlem,  1573 206 

Its  surrender. — Cold-blooded  butchery  of  garrison  and  in- 
habitants.— Great  loss  of  Spaniards 209 

Spaniards  repulsed  from  Alkmaar. — Refuse  to  assault  the 

works. — The  country  flooded 211 

Alva  recalled  to  Spain. — His  work  a  failure. — Succeeded 

by  Requesens 212 

Siege  of  Leyden  begun,  1574. — Successes  of  the  patriots. .    213 
Rejection  of  proposed  amnesty  on  condition  of  giving  up 

the  religious  question 215 

Leyden  saved  by  cutting  its  dikes. — Heroism  of  the  in- 
habitants     216 

University  of  Leyden  founded,  1575. — Marks  an  epoch  in 

the  history  of  education 217 

Becomes  the  centre  of  the  learning  of  Europe ,.   218 

Its  famous  scholars. — Honors  accorded  to  them 219 

Contributions  of  Holland  to  science 222 

Invents  the  telescope,  microscope,  pendulum  clock,  etc.  . .  .    222 
Tolerance  of  Leyden. — English  Dissenters  among  its  pupils  223 
University  of  Franeker. — Instruction  free  as  in  Leyden. . .    224 
Application  of  confiscated  church  property  in  the  Nether- 
lands.— Contrast  with  England 225 

Hospitals  and  soldiers'  homes 226 

CHAPTER  IV 

REVOLUTION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 

INDEPENDENCE   DECLARED — ASSASSINATION   OP  WILLIAM    OF  ORANGE 

— RELIGIOUS   TOLERATION  ESTABLISHED,  1574-1585 

The  perilous  condition  of  Holland 228 


CONTENTS  XI 

PAGE 

Death  of  Requesens,  1576 229 

Mutiny  of  Spanish  soldiers. — "  The  Spanish  Fury." — They 

sack  Antwerp  and  other  towns 229 

All  the  provinces  unite  to  drive  out  the  invaders 229 

Arrival  of  Don  John  of  Austria 230 

His  romantic  scheme  for  the  conquest  of  England 231 

Assistance  for  the  Netherlanders  from  England  and  France  231 

Death  of  Don  John 232 

Arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  1578,  a  soldier  and  a  diplo- 
matist   233 

He  wins  back  the  southern  provinces. — The  North  stands 

firm „ 233 

"  The  Union  of  Utrecht "  the  written  constitution  of  the 

Netherland  Republic,  1579 233 

Declaration  of  Independence,  1581. — Its  importance. — Cop- 
ied by  England  and  America 234 

The  Duke  of  Anjou,  brother  of  the  French  king,  proclaimed 

sovereign 236 

Wooing  of  Elizabeth  by  Anjou. — Its  comical  and  serious 

features 236 

Anjou  accepts  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands. — His 

inglorious  career  and  death,  1584 238 

Attempts  of  Philip  to  bribe  William  of  Orange 240 

His  assassination,  1584. — The  foremost  Puritan  of  the  age.  240 

Results  of  his  work. — Seven  provinces  redeemed 241 

Difficulties  of  his  task. — Comparison  with  Cromwell 242 

Religious  toleration  established. — Its  novelty  in  Europe.  . .  243 

William  denounced  at  home,  but  he  carries  the  day 244 

He  protects  the  Anabaptists,  who  first  proclaim  religious 

liberty  and  separation  of  Church  from  State 245 

Their  doctrines  and  their  treatment  in  other  countries. . . .  246 
Origin  of  religious  liberty  in  the  United  States. — Its  debt 

to  Holland 249 

Virginia's  Declaration  of  Rights,  1776 250 

New  York  first  establishes  religious  liberty  by  constitu- 
tional enactment 251 


Xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Influence   of  Holland  in  religious  matters  on  the  general 

government  of  the  United  States 252 

Results  of  the  assassination  of  William  of  Orange. — The 

people  have  no  thought  of  surrender 254 

A  republic  forced  upon  the  Netherlanders 256 

They  offer  the  sovereignty  to  France. — The  "  Holy  League," 

formed  against  Henry  of  Navarre,  prevents  its  acceptance  257 

Spain  marching  on  to  universal  dominion , 259 

Protestant  England  and  her  queen 260 

Thus  far  Elizabeth  had  kept  out  of  the  religious  war  upon 

the  Continent. — Her  methods  no  longer  practicable. .  . .    261 

CHAPTER  V 
ENGLAND   BEFORE  ELIZABETH 

Obstacles  to  a  correct  view  of  the  Elizabethan  age  in  Eng- 
land     262 

False  glamour  of  the  poet  and  novelist  over  an  age  very 

backward  in  many  directions 263 

Poetry  not  a  fruit,  but  the  flower,  of  civilization. — Homer 

and  Dante 265 

Shakespeare  and  Bacon  produced  by  the  same  causes. . . .    266 
Bacon  not  a  learned  man  ;  ignorant  of  science,  Latin,  etc. .    267 
Little  appreciation  of  Shakespeare  in  England  until  a  re- 
cent date 268 

The  same  true  of  Bacon  as  a  scientist 269 

History  of  England  a  peculiar  one,  marked  by  waves  of 

progress,  all  due  to  foreign  influences 271 

Modern  tendencies  to  exaggerate  the  Anglo-Saxon  influence  273 

High  civilization  under  the  Ptomans 275 

Its  importance  to  the  student  of  Continental  history 276 

Entirely  obliterated  by  the  Anglo-Saxons 277 

The  country  becomes  again  a  pagan  barbaric  land 278 

The   Anglo-Saxon    barbarians.  —  "Battles    of   Kites    and 

Crows  " 279 

The  Anglo-Saxons  deteriorate,  lose  their  ideas  of  personal 
freedom. — The  king,  the  serf,  slavery 280 


CONTENTS  xm 

PAGE 

Conversion  of  England. — Its  character  and  results 282 

The  Danes  and  King  Alfred 283 

Results   of   six   centuries   of  Anglo-Saxon  rule.  —  English 

virtues 284 

The  Norman  conquest  the  great  event  in  English  history. .  287 
How  the  Normans  obtained  their  civilization. — Connection 

with  Rome  and  the  East 287 

Conquest  of  England. — Comparison  of  the  Normans  with 

the  Saxons 289 

They  introduce  the  French  language. — English  disappears 

for  nearly  three  hundred  years „  . .  .  .    290 

Build  the  cathedrals,  found  the  universities 291 

Study  of  the  Roman  civil  law  begun 292 

Debt  of  England  to  the  Jews. — They  introduce  the  study 

of  the  physical  sciences. — Roger  Bacon 293 

The  Normans  give  England  her  institutions,  good  and  bad, 

the  feudal  system,  judiciary,  trial  by  jury,  etc 295 

Magna  Charta. — Its  origin  and  character 296 

Organization  of  the  English  Parliament 296 

Expulsion  of  the  Jews. — Introduction  of  the  Netherland 

weavers 299 

Final  absorption  of  the  Normans  by  the  Anglo-Saxons. — 

Return  of  the  English  language. — England  rapidly  goes 

down „    300 

Chaucer  stands  on  the  border  line. — His  song  awakens  no 

echo  . 300 

The  Hundred  Years'  War  with  France. — Disastrous  results 

to  England 301 

Pestilence.  —  Abandonment   of  agriculture.  —  The   sturdy 

beggars. — Restriction  of  the  suffrage 303 

Decline  of  learning. — Wyclif  and  the  Lollards 304 

The  Wars  of  the  Roses  still  more  disastrous  in  their  results  305 
Despotism  of  the  Tudors. — Civil  liberty  trodden  underfoot. 

— Literature  and  learning  almost  dead , 307 

The  printing-press  in  England. — Its  paltry  results 308 

The  Oxford  reformers  and  their  small  classical  acquirements  309 


XIV  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Advanced  scholars  on  the  Continent 310 

The  Reformation  and  its  evil  effects  under  Henry  VIII.  .  .  312 

The  movement  almost  entirely  a  secular  one 313 

Still  worse  under  Edward  VI ,  314 

Proposition  to  demolish  Westminster  Abbey 315 

Demoralization  of  all  classes. — Public  corruption. — Fraud 

in  manufactures 316 

Religious  reaction  under  Bloody  Mary. — Tale  of  the  martyrs  31V 
When  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne,  the  state  of  society 

the  worst  that  had  ever  been  known  in  the  land 319 

CHAPTER  VI 

ELIZABETHAN  ENGLAND 

PRIVATE   LIFE,  EDUCATION,  RELIGION,  AND   MORALS 

Changes  in  England  during  the  last  three  centuries 320 

At  accession  of  Elizabeth  little  commerce,  manufactures,  or 

agriculture. — Largely  a  pastoral  land 321 

Revolution  of  industries  produces  great  demoralization  of 

society 321 

Dwellings  of  the  English 322 

The  Shakespeare  house  at  Stratford 323 

The  first  English  theatres 324 

Mansion-houses  of  the  gentry 326 

Chimneys  very  rare,  also  window-glass,  beds,  carpets,  and 

chairs 326 

Great  improvements  with  increase  of  wealth  under  Eliza- 
beth     327 

The  castles  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland. — Their  accom- 
modations     328 

London  and  its  houses 330 

Rushes  for  carpeting. — The  queen's  palace 331 

Forks  unknown  until  1611. — Table  knives  introduced,  1563  332 

The  Englishman's  food 333 

Prices  of  the  time 333 

Fondness  for  sweets 335 

The  dress  of  the  Englishman. — Its  peculiarities 336 


CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

Female  attire. — Introduction  from  the  Netherlands  of  starch- 
ing and  linen  underclothing 336 

Reverence  for  the  crown. — Its  manifestations 337 

Popular  sports,  bear  and  bull  baiting 340 

Education. — Exaggerated  ideas  from  a  few  isolated  cases.   341 

Elizabeth  and  her  acquirements 342 

England  far  behind  the  Continent  in  the  classics. — Mathe- 
matics and  science  reprobated. — Experience  of  Giordano 

Bruno 343 

Reform  of  the  calendar,  1582 345 

Not  adopted  in   England  till   1752.  —  Opposition   of  the 

people. 346 

Peers  of  the  realm  could  not  read 348 

Ignorance  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes. — Shakespeare's 

family 349 

Retrogression  since  Norman  times 350 

Condition  of  religion 351 

The  clergymen 352 

The  bishops 353 

Decline  of  morality. — Its  causes 353 

Foreign  opinions  of  Englishmen 354 

Elizabeth's  untruthfulness,  bad  faith,  dishonesty,  and  pro- 
fanity.— An  example  for  her  people 355 

Immorality  of  her  court. — Increases  during  her  reign 357 

Morals  of  the  people  at  large 358 

May-day  and  other  festivals. — Their  excesses 359 

Evil  influences  of  Italy  and  its  literature 360 

Earnest  men  in  time  will  work  a  revolution 361 

CHAPTER  VII 

ELIZABETHAN  ENGLAND 

PUBLIC  LIFE — ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE — TRADE — TREATMENT  OP 

IRELAND — PIRACY 

Character  of  men  about  the  court 363 

Corruption  in  State  and  Church 365 

Administration  of  justice 366 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Every  right  trampled  underfoot 367 

Protest  from  the  judges,  1592 368 

Pardoning  of  criminals  a  regular  business  among  the  cour- 
tiers and  maids  of  honor 369 

Prevalence  of  crime. — Bands  of  robbers 370 

Adulteration  and  fraud  in  manufactures 372 

Gambling. — Its  curious  forms 373 

Usury. — Lotteries. — Drinking 374 

The  English  in  Ireland. — Their  objects , ,  375 

Opinion  of  Lord  Burghley  as  to  Irish  rebellions 376 

Attempt  of  Earl  of  Sussex  to  assassinate  Shan  O'Neil,  1561.  376 

Second  attempt  with  poison 377 

Scheme  of  English  worthies  for  plundering  Ireland,  1569.  379 

Massacres  by  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  etc 380 

Earl  of  Essex's  breach  of  hospitality  and  murder  of  two 

hundred  Irish,  1573 380 

His  massacre  of  six  hundred  women  and  children  at  Rathlin  381 

Sussex,  Gilbert,  and  Essex  in  history 383 

English  piracy. — Its  importance 384 

Cabot's  voyage. — No  effects  on  English  commerce,  which 

was  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  foreigners 385 

Spanish  and  Portuguese  commerce. — Its  expansion 386 

English  shipping. — Its  low  condition 387 

Lord  Burghley's  scheme  for  encouraging  mariners. — "  Pi- 
racy detestable  and  cannot  last " 388 

It  does  last,  and  builds  up  England's  naval  greatness 389 

Its  origin  and  character 389 

Attempts  of  Spain  to  keep  the  peace 390 

Englishmen  plunder  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike 390 

Piracy  leads  to  the  slave-trade  of  England 392 

African  slavery  in  America 393 

Attempts  of  Spanish  government  to  mitigate  its  evils 394 

Voyages  of  John  Hawkins. — The  queen  his  partner 395 

Disastrous   termination    of  third   voyage.  —  Fires   English 

heart 397 

Elizabeth  seizes  Philip's  money. — Results  of  her  action. , .  398 


CONTENTS  xvn 

PAGE 

Francis  Drake  leads  a  piratical  expedition 401 

Drake  sails  around  the  world,  1580 402 

Distribution  of  his  plunder. — Knighted  for  his  piracy. , . .  403 
Burghley,  Sussex,  and  Walsinghara   refuse   to   share  his 
spoils. — They  desire  open  war  with  Spain,  which  Eliza- 
beth opposes 403 

Drake  a  national  hero 404 

Growth  of  the  spirit  of  patriotism. — Hatred  of  Spain ....  405 

English  Protestantism. — Influences  at  work 407 

CHAPTER  VIII 

ENGLISH  PURITANISM 

THE  JESUITS  AND   THE  PTJRITANS,  1558-1585 

Character  of  English  Reformation 408 

Compromise  disliked  by  the  earnest  men  of  either  party . .  409 

Religious  torpor  in  England 409 

Apathy  of  English  Catholics 410 

A  sudden  awakening 411 

Catholic  reformers  on  the  Continent  produced  by  the  Ref- 
ormation   411 

The  Jesuits,  their  origin  and  growth 412 

Their  missionary  work 413 

Reform  the  Catholic  Church 414 

Establish  free  schools 415 

Become  the  educators  and  confessors  of  Catholic  Europe..  416 

Not  consistent  with  historic  truth  to  conceal  their  virtues.  417 

Check  Protestantism. — Become  the  bulwark  of  papacy. .  .  4l7 

England  a  missionary  field.  . 418 

English  missionaries  educated  at  Douay  and  Rome 419 

Their  success  in  England 420 

Jesuit  mission,  1580. — Campian  and  Parsons 420 

Revival  of  Catholicism,  and  its  causes 421 

The  people  open  to  conviction. — Proportion  of  Protestants 

to  Catholics 423 

Crushing  out  the  Catholic  revival. — Why  it  was  possible. .  424 

English  Puritans. — Their  place  in  history 425 


Xviii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Opiuions  of  Hume,  Hallam,  and  Macaulay 426 

Novelty  of  Puritan  principles  in  England 429 

Growth  of  Puritanism  unexplained  by  historians 429 

Accession  of  Elizabeth 430 

Uncertainty  as  to  the  religious  future  of  the  nation 431 

Why  Elizabeth  proclaimed  Protestantism 432 

Action  of  her  first  Parliament. — It  reconstructs  the  Eng- 
lish Church 433 

Vast  powers  conferred  on  the  queen 434 

Eeturn   of  the  English  Eeformers  from  the  Continent. — 

Their  experiences  abroad 435 

Inclined  to  Calvinism,  and  opposed  to  forms   and  cere- 
monies, and  why 436 

Their  expectations  for  the  future 437 

CHAPTER  IX 

ENGLISH  PURITANISM 
QUEEN  ELIZABETH   AND   THE   PURITANS,  1558-1585 

Elizabeth's  religious  inclinations 438 

Controversy  in  the  Church  over  the  question  of  ceremonials  439 

Name  of  Puritan  comes  into  existence,  1564 440 

Persecution  of  the  Puritans  begun,  1565 441 

John  Foxe  and  his  "  Book  of  Martyrs." — Its  great  influence  442 

Its  author  a  Puritan. — His  treatment 444 

Persecution  of  Miles  Coverdale,  the  translator  of  the  Bible 

into  English 445 

Suppression  of  independent  congregations,  1567 446 

English  statesmen  opposed  to  persecuting  the  Puritans. .  .  446 

Motives  of  Elizabeth 447 

Her  scheme  of  reconciliation  with  Rome. — The  Puritans 

its  greatest  obstacle. 449 

Her  communications  to  the  Spanish  ministers 450 

She  shields  the  Catholics 451 

Corruption  in  the  Church  fostered  by  Elizabeth,  and  why.  453 

Dishonesty  of  her  bishops , 454 


CONTENTS  XiX 

PAGE 

How  the  bishops  obtained  their  offices 455 

Elizabeth  the  great  plunderer  of  the  Church 456 

Ignorance  of  the  clergy 457 

The  Puritans  favor  education. — Discouraged  by  Elizabeth.  458 
The  Spanish  advisers  of  Elizabeth  warn  her  against  the 

Puritans , 460 

Thonaas  Cartwright  advocates  Church  reforms  on  Presbyte- 
rian lines,  1570 462 

Denounces  the  system  of  appointing  bishops. — The  system 

still  in  use 463 

Expelled  from  Oxford  and  flies  to  the  Netherlands 465 

Continued  persecution  of  the  Puritans 466 

Attempt  of  the  bishops  to  educate  the  clergy,  15'71 467 

Suppressed  by  Elizabeth 468 

Anabaptists  burned  for  heresy,  1575 469 

Archbishop  Grindal  suspended  for  favoring  preaching  and 

the  education  of  the  clergy 470 

Whitgift  appointed  archbishop,  1583. — His  ignorance  and 

narrow-mindedness 470 

Elizabeth  determines  "  to  root  out  Puritanism  " 471 

Whitgift  introduces  a  system  which  Burghley  says  is  mod- 
elled after  the  Inquisition  in  Spain 47l 

Wholesale  expulsion  of  Puritans 473 

High  Commission  Court  organized. — Its  vast  powers 474 

The  English  Inquisition  and  its  results 475 

Protests  from  Privy  Council,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  una- 
vailing    476 

Low  state  of  clergy. — Morality  of  no  account  in  compari- 
son with  conformity 477 

The  Bishop  of  London  will  not  remove  a  conforming  cler- 
gyman "  for  the  mere  fact  of  adultery  " 478 

Early  Puritanism  dying  out  under  continued  persecution. .  480 


XX  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X 

ENGLISH  PURITANISM 

INFLUENCE  PROM  THE  NETHERLANDS,  1558-1585 

PAGE 

The  influence  of  the  Marian  exiles  does  not  explain  the  re- 
ligious history  of  England 481 

Decline  of  Puritanism  among  the  upper  classes 483 

Results  of  Elizabeth's  persecution 484 

How  Puritanism  came  to  dwell  among  the  middle  classes 

and  the  poor  unexplained  by  historians 486 

Early  emigration  from  the  Netherlands  into  England 487 

The   Lollards   found   where   the    Netherlanders   had   set- 
tled      488 

Under  the  persecutions  of  Philip  II.  the  stream  becomes  a 

mighty  river 488 

Number  of  Netherland  refugees  in  England,  and  places 

of  their  settlement 489 

Beginning  of  the  industrial  history  of  modern  England . . .    490 
The  refugees  instruct  the  English  in  agriculture,  manufact- 
ures, and  commerce 491 

Aid  in  making  England  Protestant  and  free 492 

Greatest  missionary  work  known  to  history. — Its  peculiar 

advantages 493 

The  Netherland  settlements  the   strongholds   of  English 

Puritanism « 495 

Influence  in  developing  a  love  of  civil  liberty 495 

The  places   of  their  settlement  the  recruiting  ground  of 
Cromwell's  army,  and  the  homes  of  the  settlers  of  New 

England 497 

More  immediate  influence  on  England 500 

Contest  with  Catholicism  as  a  political  power <>    501 

The  war  in  the  Netherlands  an  object-lesson  to  England. .    501 
Fifty  thousand  Netherland  families  proclaiming  the  atroci- 
ties of  Catholic  Spain 502 

EfEect  on  Eno-land 502 


CONTENTS  xxi 

PAGB 

Impressionable  nature  of  the  English  people 503 

English  volunteers  for  the  war  in  the  Netherlands 504 

Exhibition  of  ancestral  courage 505 

Catholic  uprising  in  Ireland,  1580 507 

Ferocity  developed  by  the  Irish  wars. 508 


PREFACE 


I  HAVE  attempted  in  the  following  pages  to  trace 
the  origin  and  development  of  Puritanism,  the  greatest 
moral  and  political  force  of  modern  times,  with  special 
reference  to  its  influence  on  the  people  and  institutions 
of  the  United  States,  my  lines  of  investigation  differing 
widely  from  those  which  have  heretofore  been  followed 
by  historians.  How  the  work  came  to  be  undertaken 
is,  of  course,  in  itself  a  matter  of  no  importance.  And 
yet  a  public,  well-nigh  surfeited  with  books  about  the 
Puritans  and  the  early  settlers  of  America,  may  reason- 
ably call  upon  an  author  to  give,  at  the  outset,  some 
good  reason  for  asking  a  further  share  of  its  attention 
to  an  old  and  apparently  threadbare  subject.  To  such 
a  very  proper  question  this  preface  is  intended  as  an 
answer. 

When  a  law  student,  more  than  twenty-five  years  ago, 
I  began  collecting  material  for  a  history  of  the  jurispru- 
dence of  Colonial  ISTew  York,  The  field  was  compar- 
atively unexplored,  for,  as  I  discovered,  most  persons 
supposed  that  little  was  left  of  the  old  records.  Much  to 
my  surprise,  I  found  in  various  quarters  a  great  wealth 
of  matter,  and  after  some  years  began  to  arrange  the 
results  of  my  investigations.     Then,  finding  how  closely 


xxiv  PREFACE 

political  and  legal  questions  were  intertwined  in  this 
early  history,  I  concluded  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  my 
work,  so  as  to  show  the  growth  not  only  of  the  legal 
but  of  the  constitutional  system  of  the  state.  And  here 
I  met  a  series  of  surprises,  for  I  encountered  at  every 
turn  traces  of  institutions  and  ideas,  generally  supposed 
to  have  been  derived  from  England,  or  at  least  to  be  of 
New  England  origin,  but  Avhich  clearly,  so  far  as  con- 
cerned New  York,  were  derived  from  a  different  quar- 
ter. Here  were  free  schools,  the  system  of  recording 
deeds  and  mortgages,  lands  held  in  common  by  the 
towns — all  under  the  old  Dutch  rule ;  here  the  doctrine 
was  first  laid  down  by  a  legislative  assembly  that  the 
people  are  the  source  of  political  authority ;  here  w^ere 
first  established  permanent  religious  freedom,  the  right 
of  petition,  and  the  freedom  of  the  press.  On  the  other 
hand,  here  were  no  executions  of  witches  or  Quakers, 
and  no  kidnapping  and  enslavement  of  the  Indians. 

In  comparing  this  record  with  that  of  New  England, 
the  points  of  contrast  were  no  less  remarkable  than  those 
of  resemblance,  while  all  the  deductions  from  such  a 
comparison  were  opposed  to  the  ideas  inculcated  by  our 
current  histories.  From  their  earliest  school-days  Amer- 
icans have  been  told  that  this  nation  is  a  transplanted 
England,  and  that  we  must  look  to  the  mother-land  as 
the  home  of  our  institutions.  But  the  men  who  found- 
ed New  York  were  not  Englishmen  ;  they  were  Holland- 
ers, Walloons,  and  Huguenots.  The  colony  was  under 
Dutch  law  for  half  a  century ;  its  population  was  prob- 
ably not  half  English  even  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  and  yet  here  one  finds  some  of  the  institutions 


PREFACE 


which  give  America  its  distinctive  character,  while,  what 
is  more  remarkable,  no  trace  of  many  of  these  same 
institutions  can  be  found  in  England.  "What  was  their 
origin  became  to  me  an  interesting  question.  New 
York,  which  was  first  settled,  certainly  did  not  derive 
them  from  'New  England,  and  JSTew  England  probably 
did  not  derive  them  from  ISTew  York.  Could  there  have 
been  a  common  fountain  which  fed  both  these  streams, 
the  debt  to  which  has  never  been  acknowledged  ?  Of 
course,  the  l^etherland  Eepublic  must  have  been  this 
fountain,  if  one  existed ;  but  to  prove  its  existence,  and 
the  mode  in  which  its  influence  was  exerted  on  New 
England,  required  an  examination  far  outside  the  rec- 
ords of  New  York. 

Hence  a  new  set  of  questions  arose  before  me,  relating 
to  the  character  and  environment  of  the  men  who  set- 
tled America,  especially  the  Pilgrims  who  lived  so  many 
years  in  Holland,  and  the  Puritans  who  flocked  there  in 
thousands  during  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  the  first 
two  Stuarts ;  what  civilization  they  had  as  Englishmen, 
what  they  saw  and  learned  among  the  Dutch,  and  what 
they  carried  back  to  England  and  across  the  Atlantic. 
The  importance  of  the  latter  questions  can  be  seen  at 
once.  If  I  was  correct  in  my  hypothesis  as  to  the  debt 
which  America  owes  to  Holland — a  debt  incurred  not 
only  through  New  York,  but  also  through  the  Pilgrims 
and  Puritans  of  New  England,  and,  as  I  afterwards  dis- 
covered, through  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania — then 
our  American  history  would  occupy  a  different  position 
from  that  usually  accorded  to  it.  Instead  of  standing 
alone  as  a  phenomenon,  to  be  studied  by  itself,  or  as  a 


XXVI  PREFACE 

continuation  of  the  record  of  Englishmen,  to  be  studied 
on  narrow  insular  lines,  it  would  fill  a  much  broader 
field,  reaching  back  to  Continental  Europe,  linking  itself 
to  the  old  civilization  of  the  Romans,  and  forming  more 
distinctly  a  part  of  that  modern  history  which  has  been 
said  to  begin  w^ith  the  call  of  Abraham. 

The  pressure  of  professional  labors  prevented  me  for 
many  years  from  devoting  much  time  directly  to  this 
branch  of  study,  but  it  was  largely  the  occupation  of 
my  leisure.  I  was  able  to  make  two  visits  to  Holland, 
and  meanwhile  a  great  mass  of  literature  appeared  throw- 
ing new  light  upon  some  of  these  questions.  Finally, 
about  six  years  ago,  a  permanent  illness  gave  me  an 
enforced  rest,  and  I  concluded  to  finish  my  history  of 
I^ew  York.  After  reading .  over  my  old  manuscript,  I 
set  out  to  write  an  extended  introduction  to  the  work, 
treating  of  the  various  settlers  of  America  before  they 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  their  civilization  at  home,  the 
character  of  the  institutions  among  which  they  were 
developed,  and  the  connection  of  those  institutions 
with  the  historic  past.  That  introduction,  as  I  ex- 
tended my  investigations,  has  slowly  grown  into  the 
present  book.  Its  conclusions  may  seem  novel  to 
some  readers ;  but  if  true,  they  will  stand  despite  their 
novelty. 

I  have  chosen  as  a  title  "  The  Puritan  in  Holland, 
England,  and  America,"  because  the  Puritan,  who  has 
done  so  much  for  the  modern  world,  was  not  the  prod- 
uct of  any  one  race  or  country.  He  was  born  out  of  the 
uprising  against  the  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  He 
came  to  maturity  in  upholding  liberty  against  the  as- 


PREFACE 


saults  of  kingly  power.     In  him  was  represented  the 
principle  of  religious  and  civil  freedom.* 


*  I  have  used  the  word  "Puritan  "  in  this  book,  when  applied  to 
Englishmen  (except  when  otherwise  qualiiied),  as  it  has  been  gener- 
ally used  in  history.  It  came  into  the  language  about  1564,  shortly 
after  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne.  Fuller's  "  Church  History," 
ix.  66.  Its  strict  meaning  changed  from  time  to  time,  being  some- 
times religious,  with  varying  applications,  and  then  again  political, 
thus  creating  a  confusion  that  has  led  to  many  historical  blunders, 
but  its  popular  signification  has  always  been  the  same.  See,  for  ex- 
ample, its  emj)loyment  by  Shakespeare.  Among  the  people  of  Eng- 
land at  large  the  name  came  finally  to  be  applied  to  all  those  who 
were  religious  and  moral,  and  who,  either  by  word  or  life,  protested 
against  the  irreligion  and  immorality  of  the  time.  In  Baxter's 
"  Autobiography  "  we  see  illustrated  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  I.  Baxter's  family  were  called  Puritans,  although  they 
were  strict  Conformists,  or  Episcopalians,  because  they  never  got 
drunk  and  went  to  church  regularly.  The  people  judged  them 
rightly,  for  Baxter  became  a  chaplain  in  Cromwell's  army.  Religion 
and  morality  revolted  against  authority  as  it  was  then  represented 
by  the  Stuarts.  Strictly  speaking,  as  will  be  shown  in  its  proper 
place,  the  name  was  confined  to  those  Calvinistic  members  of  the 
English  Church  who  sought  its  reformation  from  within.  These 
men  formed  the  large  majority  of  the  settlers  of  New  England. 
Those  who  left  the  church  were  called  Brownists,  Separatists,  or 
Independents,  and  from  them  came  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  who  settled 
Plymouth.  The  name  Puritan,  however,  was  not  confined  to  Eng- 
land, nor  have  I  given  it  any  such  narrow  limitation.  In  1587,  Lord 
Buckhurst  visited  Holland  as  the  representative  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
He  reported  of  the  people  of  the  Provinces  that  they  consisted  "  of 
divers  parts  and  professions,  as,  namely,  Protestants,  Puritans,  Ana- 
baptists, and  Spanish  hearts."  Buckhurst  to  the  Queen,  May  27th, 
1587 ;  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  ii.  123.  See  also  Motley's 
"  Barneveld,"  ii.  119,  284,  285. 


XXViii  .  PKKFACB 

The  armed  contest  began  in  Holland,  and  lasted  there 
for  eighty  years  before  it  was  transferred  to  England. 
In  its  early  days,  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  Nether- 
landers,  driven  from  their  homes  by  persecution,  found 
an  asylum  on  British  soil.  Throughout  it  was  a  Puri- 
tan warfare.  The  Earl  of  Leicester,  sent  by  Elizabeth  to 
aid  the  rebellious  Netherlands,  was  politically  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  English  Puritans.  The  grandfathers 
and  fathers  of  the  men  who  fought  w^ith  Cromwell  at 
Naseby  and  Dunbar  received  their  military  training 
under  William  of  Orange  and  his  son.  Prince  Maurice. 
Thousands  upon  thousands  of  them,  during  a  period  of 
some  seventy  years,  served  in  the  armies  of' the  Dutch 
Republic.  Many  others,  driven  out  of  England  by  Eliz- 
abeth and  her  successors,  settled  in  Holland,  and  a  still 
larger  number  went  there  for  business  purposes,  engag- 
ing in  trade  and  manufactures,  while  keeping  in  close 
relations  with  their  native  land.  Some  of  the  refugees, 
after  a  residence  of  years  among  the  Puritans  of  the 
Netherlands,  emigrated  to  America ;  others  returned  to 
England,  and  took  up  arms  under  the  Long  Parliament.* 


*  Fairfax,  Essex,  Monk,  Warwick,  Bedford,  Skippon,  and  many- 
others — in  fact,  the  men  who  organized  the  Parliamentary  army — re- 
ceived their  military  training  in  the  Low  Countries.  "  The  Fight- 
ing Veres,"  by  Clements  Robert  Markliam,  p.  456.  The  famous  Iron- 
sides of  Cromwell  were  trained  by  Colonel  Dalbier,  a  Hollander,  and 
the  same  officer  did  a  mucli  more  important  work  by  giving  Crom- 
well his  first  instruction  in  the  military  art,  teaching  him,  as  Carlyle 
says,  "the  mechanical  part  of  soldiering."  Carlyle's  "Cromwell,"  i. 
193  (ed.  Wiley  &  Putnam,  1845).  The  first  judge  advocate  of  the 
Parliament's  army  was  also  a  Hollander,  Dr.  Dorislaus.    Idem,  p.  231. 


PREFACE 


The  Englishmen,  very  many  thousands  in  number, 
who  found  a  temporary  home  in  Holland  were  the 
most  active  and  enterprising  of  their  race.  They  went 
from  a  monarchy,  where  the  power  of  the  crown  over 
many  questions  of  Church  and  State  was  unlimited,  to  a 
republic,  where  the  people  for  centuries  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  self-rule.  They  went  from  a  land  where,  from 
natural  causes,  material  and  intellectual  progress  had 
been  much  retarded  to  one  which,  in  almost  every  de- 
partment of  human  endeavor,  was  then  the  instructor 
of  the  world.  That  they  must  have  learned  much,  apart 
from  the  art  of  war,  and  that  they  must  have  communi- 
cated much  to  England,  seems  apparent  at  a  glance  to 
any  one  conversant  with  the  situation.  And  yet  we 
shall  search  through  English  histories  in  vain  for  any 
but  the  slightest  allusions  to  the  effects  of  this  foreign 
influence. 

Important  as  this  subject  is  to  Englishmen  who  care 
for  the  truth  of  history,  to  Americans  it  is  still  more 
important.  In  England,  after  the  restoration  of  the 
Stuarts,  the  influence  of  the  I^etherland  Eepublic,  great 
as  it  was  for  a  time,  seemed  to  be  almost  lost.  It  was 
not  lost,  in  fact,  any  more  than  are  those  streams  which 
suddenly  disappear  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
only  to  break  out  in  what  appear  new  fountains  farther 
on  their  course.  In  America,  however,  there  was  noth- 
ing to  cause  even  such  a  temporary  disappearance.  The 
Pilgrims  who  settled  Plymouth  had  lived  twelve  years 
in  Holland.  The  Puritans  who  settled  Massachusetts 
had  all  their  lives  been  exposed  to  a  Netherland  influ- 
ence, and  some  of  their  leaders  had  also  lived  in  Hoi- 


XXX  PREFACE 

land.  Thomas  Hooker,  coining  from  Holland,  gave  life 
to  Connecticut,  which  has  been  well  called  the  typical 
American  commonwealth.  Eoger  Williams,  who  found- 
ed Khode  Island,  was  so  much  of  a  Dutch  scholar  tliat 
he  read  Dutch  books  to  the  poet  Milton.  Penn,  who 
founded  Pennsylvania,  was  half  a  Dutchman.  New 
York  and  New  Jersey  were  settled  by  the  Dutch  "West 
India  Company.  Here,  then,  we  might  expect  to  hnd 
traces  of  the  influence  of  the  great  Netherland  Repub- 
lic even  more  marked  than  in  tlie  case  of  England. 

And  how  have  the  historians  of  America  dealt  with 
this  subject  ?  Here  is  a  country  which  was  settled  by 
men  of  diverse  nationalities.  It  has  always  been  cos- 
mopolitan. Its  institutions  differ  radically  from  those 
of  England.  The  modes  of  thought  of  its  people  are 
not  English.  The  two  countries  are,  in  some  respects, 
drawing  together  to-day,  but  this  is  simply  because  Eng- 
land is  adopting  ideas  like  our  own,  and  coming  tow- 
ards our  republican  institutions.  Despite  all  these  facts, 
known  to  every  American,  we  are  continually  told  that 
we  are  an  English  people,  with  English  institutions ;  and 
all  American  history  has  been  written  upon  that  theory. 
Scarcely  an  attempt  is  made  to  trace  out  the  cause  of 
the  manifest  differences  between  the  two  countries,  by 
looking  at  the  institutions  and  modes  of  thought  of  the 
other  nations  which  influenced  our  early  settlers,  and 
contributed  so  largely  to  our  population.  Our  descend- 
ants will  probably  view  the  result  somewhat  as  we  re- 
gard most  of  the  classical  histories  of  a  century  ago. 

Such  is  the  mode  in  which  American  history  has 
been  written.     Why  it  has  been  so  written  is  an  inter- 


PEEFACE 


esting  question,  the  answer  to  which  is,  however,  very 
simple. 

In  the  first  place,  its  authors  have  been  almost  exclu- 
sively Englishmen,  or  descendants  of  Englishmen,  living 
in  New  England.  Wow  the  English  have  never  been 
wanting  in  that  appreciation  of  themselves  which  has 
characterized  all  the  master  races  of  the  world.*  This 
trait  of  character  has  played  no  small  part  in  the  devel- 
opment of  their  world-wide  empire,  the  education  which 
has  taught  them  to  believe  in  their  natural  superiority 
over  men  of  other  nations  having  largely  aided  to  fit 
them  for  great  actions.  In  addition,  it  has  led  to  their 
recording  every  achievement  of  an  Englishman,  and 
thus  to  the  completeness  of  their  chronicles,  and  the 
unexampled  mass  of  their  literature  relating  to  English- 
men and  English  actions. 

But  with  its  advantages  there  are  some  corresponding 
disadvantages.  One  of  their  brilliant  writers,  who  has 
lived  for  years  upon  the  Continent,  has  well  said,  "  The 
difficulty  with  which  the  English  can  be  brought  to 
respect  the  French  can  be  partly  explicable  by  their 
difficulty  in  respecting  foreigners  in  general,  unless  they 


*  The  Venetian  traveller  wbo  wrote  tlie  "  Relation  of  England," 
in  1500,  nearly  four  centuries  ago,  says :  "  The  English  are  great 
lovers  of  themselves  and  of  everything  belonging  to  them.  They 
think  that  there  are  no  other  men  than  themselves,  and  no  other 
world  but  England ;  and  whenever  they  see  a  handsome  foreigner 
they  say  he  looks  like  an  Englishman,  and  it  is  a  great  pity  he  should 
not  be  an  Englishman;  and  whenever  they  partake  of  any  delicacy 
with  a  foreigner  they  ask  him  whether  such  a  thing  is  made  in  his 
country."    Printed  by  the  Camden  Society. 


xxxii  PREFACE 

have  been,  dead  for  a  long  time,  like  Homer  and  Virgil, 
or  are  invested  with  a  sacred  character,  like  Moses  and 
Isaiah,"  *  'No  reader  needs  to  be  told  that  this  attitude 
towards  foreigners  is  not  peculiar  to  Englishmen,  even 
among  modern  nations,  although,  as  exhibited  by  them, 
it  may  seem  at  times  a  trifle  emphasized.  Still,  how- 
ever conducive  to  the  greatness  of  a  people,  and  whether 
found  in  Greece,  Eome,  France,  England,  or  America,  it 
does  not  conduce  to  the  writing  of  full  and  accurate  his- 
tories, which  must,  of  necessity,  deal  with  the  affairs  of 
other  nations.f 


*  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton,  "  French  and  English,"  Atlantic 
Monthly^  July,  1886,  p.  22.  Lecky  speaks  of  "  that  hatred  of  for- 
eigners so  deeply  rooted  in  the  English  mind,  and  which  has  played 
a  part  that  can  hardly  be  exaggerated  in  English  history,  ''  England 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  Amer.  ed.,  pp.  1-19.  See  also  opinion  of 
the  Duo  de  Sully,  in  1603,  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  iv.  156. 

t  How  foreign  history  is  generally  regarded  in  England,  even  at 
the  present  day,  is  well  illustrated  by  the  interesting  discussion 
which  was  carried  on  there  during  the  winter  of  1885  and  1886, 
over  the  question,  "What  books  shall  we  read?"  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock, the  eminent  naturalist,  opened  with  a  list  of  one  hundred 
books ;  others  followed,  until  most  of  the  distinguished  scholars  of 
the  kingdom  had  been  heard  from.  The  intention  was  to  select  one 
hundred  works,  the  knowledge  of  whicli  would  make  the  best  edu- 
cation for  an  Englishman.  The  range  was  wide ;  the  various  lists 
covered  the  poetry,  science,  philosophy,  and  general  literature  of  all 
nations.  No  fault  could  be  found  with  them  on  that  score;  but  it  is 
very  curious  to  see  the  way  in  which  history  was  treated.  Classical 
history — that  is,  the  life  and  growth  of  dead  nations — was  fully  rep- 
resented. The  history  of  England  also  occupied  a  large  space.  But 
in  all  the  lists  only  three  allusions  were  made  to  the  modern  history 
of  any  people  except  the  English.     One  authority  recommended 


PKEFACE  XXXIH 

Here,  then,  in  the  fact  that  American  history  has 
been  written  mainly  by  Englishmen,  or  by  men  of  Eng- 
lish descent,  and  entirely  from  an  English  standpoint, 
we  find  one  natural  explanation  of  its  incompleteness — 
an  incompleteness  found  in  the  history  of  every  nation, 
when  the  author  is  moved  more  by  a  patriotic  desire  to 
cast  a  halo  around  his  ancestors  than  to  arrive  at  the 
exact  truth.*  But,  apart  from  all  this,  there  is  some- 
thing more  important  and  far-reaching  which  has  affect- 
ed all  the  early  writers  about  America  who  have  shaped 
popular  opinion. 

Comparatively  few  persons,  perhaps,  appreciate  how 
recent  a  science  is  that  of  historical  investigation.  Less 
than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  Sir  Eobert  Walpole,  lying 
upon  his  death-bed,  and  requesting  a  friend  to  read  to 
him,  was  asked  to  select  the  book.  "  An^^thing  but  his- 
tory," he  answered :  "  that  must  be  false."  The  dying 
statesman,  who  for  more  than  twenty  years,  as  Prime 
Minister  of  England,  had  been  making  history,  knew 


Carlyle's  -works,  whicb  would  include  bis  "  Frederick  the  Great " 
and  "  French  Revolution ;"  and  the  head  master  at  Eton  recom- 
mended Tliiers's  "  Consulate  and  Empire."  See  the  lists,  Westmin- 
ster Retieic,  July,  1886,  p.  99,  "  What  and  How  to  Read." 

*  English  writers  are  keen  enough  in  the  appreciation  of  this  fail- 
ing in  their  American  cousins.  Sir  Henry  Maine,  in  his  last  work, 
speaks  of  "  tlie  nauseous  grandiloquence  of  the  American  panegyr- 
ical historiau,"  "Popular  Government,"  p.  222.  Doyle,  in  comment- 
ing on  the  writings  of  the  early  New  England  settlers,  says:  "We 
are  reading  not  a  history,  but  a  hagiology."— "  The  English  in  Amer- 
ica. Tlie  Puritans,"  by  J.  A.  Doyle  (the  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co., 
1887),  i.  4. 

c 


XXXiv  PREFACE 

full  well  whereof  he  spoke.  His  criticism  was  some- 
what novel  then,  but  the  period  since  its  utterance  has 
made  the  sneer  a  maxim.  In  his  time,  to  the  common 
mind  all  history  was  alike :  the  legends  of  Livy  and  the 
personal  observations  of  Tacitus,  the  gossip  of  Suetonius 
and  Csesar's  story  of  his  own  campaigns,  all  were  equally 
true  and  equally  sacred.  To  question  them  was  well-nigh 
heresy.  But  to-day  is  the  age  of  the  iconoclasts.  Under 
their  blows  our  old  idols  are  crumbling  to  powder.  They 
dig  up  the  musty  records  from  which  history  has  been 
made ;  they  search  into  the  lives  of  the  historians  to  find 
out  what  were  their  sources  of  information,  and  they  seek 
further  to  find  out  why  they  wrote.  True  science  is  ex- 
act, for  it  is  founded  on  laws  which  are  immutable ;  true 
poetry  is  immortal,  for  its  breath  is  inspiration ;  but  his- 
tory is  like  the  work  of  the  photographer,  it  depends  for 
its  accuracy  upon  the  material,  the  workman,  the  focus, 
and  the  atmosphere.  'No  wonder  if  the  scholar  rises 
from  his  task  to  say  with  Walpole,  as  to  much  of  it,  that 
"  it  must  be  false." 

It  was  Yoltaire,  as  Buckle  has  pointed  out,  who  first 
brought  secular  history  to  the  bar  of  human  reason. 
By  attacking  the  early  fables  of  Greece  and  Eome  he. 
laid  open  the  broad  domains  of  the  past  to  the  fearless 
seekers  after  truth.  "What  they  have  done  as  to  the 
classics  is  known  to  every  schoolboy.  We  have  seen  a 
host  of  great  scholars,  led  by  the  audacious  Mebuhr, 
reconstructing  Eoman  history ;  we*  have  seen  another 
army  sifting  the  grains  of  truth  from  the  fairy  tales  of  the 
Greek  historians ;  while,  almost  to-day,  an  indefatigable 
explorer  exhumes  the  walls  of  ancient  Troy,  and  shows 


PREFACE  XXXV 

to  the  world  that  Homer  was  no  writer  of  mere  ro- 
mance. 

But  it  is  not  ancient  history  alone  that  our  scholars 
are  rearranging.  Everywhere,  in  almost  every  land, 
they  are  delving  among  the  records,  getting  at  the  truth 
of  modern  history.  It  is  not  easy  to  realize  how  diffi- 
cult this  task  has  been  until  a  recent  date.  Every  one 
has  heard  of  the  French  chronicler  who  was  charged 
with  treason  by  Eichelieu  for  having  in  his  works  told 
some  distasteful  truths  about  a  king  who,  for  two 
centuries,  had  slumbered  in  his  grave.  That,  we  say, 
was  long  ago.  So  were  the  actions  of  Louis  XIY.,  who 
withdrew  a  pension  from  one  historian  for  some  imper- 
tinent remarks  about  taxation,  kept  Fenelon  in  banish- 
ment for  a  supposed  criticism  of  his  reign  in  the  romance 
of  "  Telemachus,"  and  threw  another  author  into  the 
Bastile  for  innocently  revealing  a  state  secret  in  a  pan- 
egyric of  himself.  This  was  the  custom  of  the  age. 
Histories  written  under  such  auspices  would  hardly  be 
entitled  to  much  credit." 

But  when  this  danger  passed  away,  and  in  the  last 
century  historians  could,  in  some  lands,  venture  to  tell 
the  truth,  the  question  arose,  how  the  truth  could  be 
obtained.  History,  says  Carlyle,  is  "  ever  more  or  less 
the  written  epitomized  synopsis  of  rumor."     It  will,  of 


*  Hallam  very  wisely  remarks  that  the  invention  of  printing  was 
at  first  detrimental  to  historical  accuracy.  "When  men  wrote  books 
only  for  the  use  of  tliemselves,  their  friends,  or  a  limited  circle  of 
readers,  they  could  tell  what  they  understood  to  be  the  truth.  When 
books  came  to  be  printed  for  general  circulation,  they  could  in  most 
countries  tell  only  what  was  agreeable  to  the  authorities. 


XXXYi  PREFACE 

course,  as  to  many  public  events,  be  simply  rumor  run 
mad,  unless  corrected  by  official  records,  diplomatic 
correspondence,  and  other  state  papers  which,  until 
very  recently,  were  regarded  in  all  countries  as  the 
property  of  the  monarch,  and  for  reasons  of  state  de= 
nied  to  the  historian,*  One  can  imagine  the  position  of 
a  writer  who  sat  down  to  compose  a  work  upon  his  own 
or  any  other  country  when  such  material  was  every- 
where kept  a  secret. 

The  French  Revolution,  and  the  ideas  which  followed 
in  its  train,  first  developed  the  modern  theory  that  offi- 
cial documents  are  for  the  public  good,  and  that  as  to 
past  events  the  public  will  be  best  served  by  being  told 
the  truth.  How  much  has  been  brought  to  light  since 
the  archives  of  some  of  the  old  monarchies  have  been 
unlocked  is  a  familiar  story  even  to  those  acquainted 
only  with  the  works  of  our  own  Prescott  and  Motley, 
who  led  the  van  in  this  department  of  investigation. 
But  while  France,  Spain,  Holland,  and  other  countries 
have  been  aiding  the  historian,  conservative  England 
has  been  one  of  the  last  powers  in  Europe  to  open  its 
records  to  the  public,  and  even  now  has  not  done  so 
fully.  How  this  has  affected  American  history  can  be 
readily  understood. 

In  1841,  John  Romeyn  Brodhead  was   sent  to  Eu- 


*  This  theory  and  practice  still  prevail  at  Rome.  The  pope  has 
always  beeu  the  depositary  of  valuable  state  secrets.  It  is  well  known 
that  in  the  archives  of  the  Vatican  repose  documents  which  would 
solve  many  historical  problems  of  great  interest.  If  they  are  ever 
thrown  open  to  examination,  numerous  points  in  history  will  doubt- 
less have  to  be  revised. 


PKEFACE 


rope  by  the  State  of  l^ew  York  to  procure  copies  of 
documents  relating  to  its  colonial  history,  from  the 
public  offices  of  England,  France,  and  Holland.  He 
went  as  an  accredited  agent  from  a  friendly  power,  sup- 
ported by  all  the  influence  of  the  general  government. 
It  was  known  that  the  State  Paper  Office  of  England 
contained  a  mass  of  correspondence  of  the  royal  gov- 
ernors, minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  other  docu- 
ments which  would  throw  much  light  on  early  Ameri- 
can affairs.  In  Holland  were  supposed  to  be  valuable 
papers  relating  to  the  Dutch  period,  and  in  France 
others  connected  with  Canadian  relations.  Such  proved 
to  be  the  case,  and  in  each  of  the  latter  countries  the 
N^ew  York  agent  was  treated  with  the  greatest  courtesy. 
He  was  allowed  to  examine  all  the  colonial  records,  was 
aided  in  every  manner,  and  furnished  with  copies  of 
such  documents  as  he  selected. 

In  England  he  met  with  a  very  different  reception. 
Lord  Palmerston  replied  to  his  application  to  look  over 
the  colonial  records  by  saying  that  if  he  would  desig- 
nate the  particular  paper  which  he  wished  to  see,  it 
would  be  officially  examined,  and  then,  if  there  were 
no  objection,  he  could  obtain  a  copy  at  the  customary 
rates.  As  Mr.  Brodhead  knew  nothing  of  the  docu- 
ments, and  wished  to  look  them  over  to  find  out  which 
were  valuable,  this  proposition  of  the  noble  Secretary 
was  a  virtual  denial  of  his  request.  Thus  matters  stood 
for  about  a  year,  when  a  new  Liberal  ministry  came  into 
power.  Under  its  regulations  he  was  at  length  per- 
mitted to  examine  the  original  records,  and  was  fur- 
nished with  copies  of  such  as  he  selected,  although 


XXXviii  PREFACE 

annoyed  by  petty  harassing  restrictions,  and  charged 
exorbitant  fees.  There  the  theory  still  existed  that 
such  papers  formed  part  of  the  monarch's  private  li- 
brary, access  to  which  could  be  obtained  only  through 
royal  favor.* 

Lest  some  uncharitable  reader  might  suppose  that 
this  was  exceptional  treatment,  extended  to  an  Ameri- 
can by  his  English  cousins  on  account  of  their  near  re- 
lationship, let  me  cite  another  example.  In  1844,  C.  M. 
Bavies,  an  Englishwoman,  published  the  last  volume  of 
a  valuable  history  of  Holland.  In  preparing  her  work 
she  desired  to  consult  the  correspondence  of  the  Eng- 
lish ambassador  at  The  Hague,  from  1750  to  1780. 
This  correspondence  was  kept  in  the  same  office  with 
the  papers  relating  to  American  affairs.  The  English- 
woman, less  fortunate  than  the  American,  was  not  al- 
lowed to  see  the  papers  at  all,  and  was  compelled  to 
send  her  book  to  press  without  their  aid.f 

The  mission  of  Mr.  Brodhead  to  Europe  accom- 
plished a  great  result.  He  brought  back  with  him  a 
large  collection  of  documents  relating  to  American  his- 
tory, many  of  which  never  before  had  seen  the  light. 
Those  in  French  and  Dutch  were  translated,  and  in 
1856  the  whole  were  published  by  the  State  in  ten  large 
volumes,  entitled  "  Documents  Relating  to  the  Colonial 
History  of  New  York."  So  far  as  public  events  are 
concerned,  these  are  not  rumors,  but  true  material  for 


*  See   report  of  Mr.    Brodhead,  "Documents  Relating  to  the 
Colonial  History  of  New  York,"  vol.  i. 
t  Davies's  "  Holland/'  iii.  607. 


PREFACE 


history.  Their  importance  can  be  appreciated  when  vre 
think  of  the  material  used  by  most  historians  before 
they  were  given  to  the  world.  In  1836,  James  Grahame, 
a  Scotchman,  published  his  "History  of  the  United 
States,"  a  pioneer  work  in  Great  Britain,  and  one  which 
has  been  looked  upon  Avith  considerable  favor  in  ISTew 
England.  The  author  tells  in  the  Preface  how  his  vol- 
umes were  compiled.  He  evidently  never  visited  Amer- 
ica, and  never  consulted  an  original  document  of  any 
kind.  He  borrowed  entirely  from  other  books,  mostly 
those  published  in  ISTew  England ;  and  even  for  them  he 
had  to  go  to  Gottingen,  in  Germany,  on  account  of  the 
deficiencies  of  the  British  libraries.* 

"When  Grahame  wro'te  his  book,  very  few  persons  in 
England  or  America  knew  or  cared  anything  about 
foreign  nations  or  their  history.  Davies's  volumes  on 
Holland  had  not  appeared,  and  those  of  Motley  were 
not  yet  thought  of  by  their  author.  In  France  the 
documents  were  just  coming  to  light  which,  within  the 
past  few  years,  have  caused  French  early  history  to  be 
rewritten,  showing  the  character  of  the  Huguenots  who 
formed  so  large  an  element  of  our  American  popula- 
tion.f  It  was  at  this  same  period  that  Bancroft  wrote 
his  first  three  volumes,  which  deal  with  our  colonial 
history  down  to  1748.:};     Composed  under  such  condi- 


*  See  Preface,  "  Grahame's  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol,  i. 

t  See  Baird's  "  Eise  of  the  Huguenots  in  France,"  vol.  i.  Int.  p.  5. 

{  Grahame's  work  was  published  in  1836  ;  Bancroft's,  vol.  i.  1834; 
vol.  ii.  1837  ;  vol.  iii.  1840.  These  closed  the  early  period.  Davies's 
"  Holland,"  vol.  i.,  appeared  in  1841,  the  "  New  York  Colonial  Docu- 


Xl  PREFACE 

tions,  and  from  such  material,  one  need  not  wonder  at 
the  character  of  our  early  American  histories.  Written 
only  from  an  English  standpoint,  that  of  neglect  of 
everything  not  Anglo-Saxon  in  its  origin,  they  would 
naturally  be  incomplete ;  but  when  we  add  the  further 
fact  that  even  the  English  material  was  largely  inac- 
cessible to  the  historian,  nothing  in  the  result  will  cause 
surprise. 

In  the  half-century  which  has  elapsed  since  the  pub- 
lication of  Bancroft's  third  volume,  bringing  American 
histor}^  down  to  1748,  great  advances  have  been  made 
in  the  science  of  historical  investigation.  In  addition, 
numberless  documents  have  been  discovered,  apart  from 
those  relating  to  JSTew  York,  w^iich  illuminate  the  whole 
period  of  the  settlement  of  America  and  the  making  of 
the  republic.  Motley,  Froude,  Ranke,  Masson,  Gardi- 
ner, and  a  host  of  others  have  not  only  thrown  much 
new  light  on  the  condition  of  England  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  but  they  have  shown  in 
various  ways  the  close  relations  w^hich  existed  between 
the  English  Puritans  and  their  republican  brethren  in 
the  [Netherlands  —  relations  which  were  little  thought 
of  fifty  years  ago.  It  would  seem  to  be  impossible  for 
an  unprejudiced  reader  even  to  glance  over  this  mod- 
ern historical  literature  without  at  least  surmising  that 


ments"  and  Motley's  "Dutch  Republic"  in  1856.  Bancroft  used 
many  documents  which  he  obtained  for  himself  in  Europe,  but  it 
never  seemed  to  have  occurred  to  him  that  the  Netherland  Repub- 
lic might  have  exercised  an  influence  on  the  early  settlers  of  New 
England. 


PREFACE  xli 

America,  which  differs  so  widely  from  the  mother  coun- 
try, might  show  rational  and  historical  reasons  for  being 
different.  And  yet,  with  floods  of  light  pouring  in  from 
every  quarter,  and  while  scholars  are  rewriting  the  his- 
tory of  almost  every  country  on  the  globe,  so  powerful 
has  been  the  current  of  popular  opinion  that  the  story 
of  early  Colonial  America,  in  this  particular,  stands  to- 
day substantially  where  Bancroft  left  it  fifty  years  ago. 
The  attempt  is  still  made  by  the  great  majority  of 
writers  to  trace  everything  American  to  an  English 
source ;  and  when  that  search  proves  fruitless,  resort  is 
had  to  the  inventive  genius  of  the  inspired  first  settlers, 
and  to  that  alone. 

But,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  it  is  not  American 
history  alone  which  has  suffered  from  ignoring  the  ex- 
istence of  the  ]N^etherland  Republic,  and  its  influence 
upon  the  modern  world. 

Carlyle,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  "Letters  and  Speech- 
es of  Cromwell,"  says  :  "  One  wishes  there  were  a  History 
of  English  Puritanism,  the  last  of  all  our  Heroisms ;  but 
sees  small  prospect  of  such  a  thing  at  present.  Few 
nobler  Heroisms,  at  bottom  perhaps  no  nobler  Heroism 
ever  transacted  itself  on  this  Earth ;  and  it  lies  as  good 
as  lost  to  us ;  overwhelmed  under  such  an  avalanche  of 
Human  Stupidities  as  no  Heroism  before  ever  did.  In- 
trinsically and  extrinsically  it  may  be  considered  inac- 
cessible to  these  generations.  Intrinsically,  the  spiritual 
purport  of  it  has  become  inconceivable,  incredible  to  the 
modern  mind.  Extrinsically,  the  documents  and  records 
of  it,  scattered  waste  as  a  shoreless  chaos,  are  not  legi- 
ble.  .  .  .  The  Rushworths,  Whitlockes,  liaisons,  Thur- 


Xlii  PREFACE 

loes ;  enormous  folios,  these  and  many  others  have  been 
printed,  and  some  of  them  again  printed,  but  never  yet 
edited — edited  as  you  edit  wagon-loads  of  broken  bricks 
and  dry  mortar,  simply  by  tumbling  up  the  wagon." 

Many  persons  besides  Carlyle  have  probably  wished 
for  a  history  of  English  Puritanism.  But  this  Heroism, 
like  that  of  the  making  of  the  United  States,  will  re- 
main unexplained  and  unintelligible  just  so  long  as  it  is 
looked  upon  as  a  mere  chapter  of  English  history,  and  not 
as  an  outcome  or  continuation  of  that  great  Continental 
movement,  intellectual  and  spiritual,  which,  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  revolutionized  the  world.  Neither  can 
be  understood,  unless  we  recognize  the  true  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  condition  of  the  English  people,  out 
of  which  their  Puritanism,  with  all  its  faults  and  virtues, 
was  evolved,  and  appreciate  the  influence  which  must 
have  been  exerted  upon  such  a  people  by  the  close  prox- 
imity of  a  republic  the  leader  of  the  world  by  at  least 
a  century  in  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures, 
and  by  more  than  two  centuries  in  all  ideas  relating  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty. 

To  the  American  this  appreciation  should  not  be  a 
task  of  difficulty  if  he  enters  upon  the  subject  with  a 
mind  free  of  prejudice.  He  has  seen  how,  in  his  own 
time,  the  existence  of  the  American  Republic  has  affect- 
ed the  people  of  Central  and  South  America,  and  how 
its  influence  has  been  exerted  even  across  the  ocean 
upon  the  nations  of  Continental  Europe.  He,  therefore, 
of  all  others,  should  be  capable  of  understanding  how 
the  Dutch  Republic  must  have  affected  those  heroic 
men   in   England  and  America   who,  in  their   newly 


PREFACE  xliii 

awakened  intellectual  life,  were  trying  to  break  the 
shackles  of  civil  and  religious  tyranny. 

Writing  the  history  of  English  Puritanism  without 
any  allusion  to  this  influence  is  much  like  writing  the 
early  history  of  England  without  referring  to  the  ideas 
brought  in  by  the  ISTorman  conquerors,  or  a  history  of 
the  Renaissance  in  Italy  without  mentioning  the  influ- 
ence of  the  classic  authors  of  Greece.  But  in  the  case 
of  America  and  its  Puritans  even  these  comparisons  are 
inadequate.  Another  illustration  will,  perhaps,  be  more 
apposite. 

Let  the  reader  imagine  that  Japan,  instead  of  send- 
ing a  few  score  of  students  to  the  United  States,  had 
sent  over  many  thousand  families,  and  had  kept  five 
or  six  thousand  soldiers  in  our  army  for  some  forty 
years ;  and  that  during  the  same  period  a  hundred 
thousand  Americans  had  settled  in  Japan  itself.  Im- 
agine, further,  that  at  the  end  of  the  forty  years  a  num- 
ber of  the  Japanese  settlers  in  America  had  started  out 
to  found  a  colony  in  some  newly  discovered  land,  and 
that  there  had  been  added  to  their  ranks  a  large  num- 
ber of  Americans  and  some  twenty  thousand  other 
Japanese,  some  of  whom  had  lived  in  America,  and 
most  of  the  others  going  from  sections  in  which  Amer- 
icans had  been  living  for  many  years.  These  colonists 
found  a  mighty  state,  whose  people  speak  Japanese,  but 
have  almost  no  Japanese  institutions,  having  established 
a  republic,  and  copied  their  institutions  mainly  from 
the  United  States.  The  writer  who  after  two  centuries 
should  sit  down  to  compose  a  history  of  this  new  re- 
public, and,  omitting  all  reference  to  the  United  States, 


xliv  PREFACE 

credit  these  settlers  with  the  invention  of  their  un- 
Japanese  institutions,  would  be  simply  following  the 
example  of  the  English,  and  most  of  the  American, 
authors  who  have  written  of  America  and  her  institu- 
tions. 

The  foregoing  suggestions  as  to  the  influence  of  Hol- 
land upon  England  and  America  may  appear  strange  to 
persons  who  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  Hol- 
landers as  "stupid  Dutchmen."  Wasliington  Irving 
burlesqued  those  who  settled  jN^ew  York  in  a  book 
which,  although  written  in  his  boyish  days,  and  in  later 
years  admitted  by  him  to  be  a  "  coarse  caricature,"  *  fit- 
ted in  with  the  English  prejudice,  and  in  some  quarters 
has  almost  become  accepted  history.  He  depicted  them 
as  besotted  with  beer  and  narcotized  by  tobacco,  ill- 
mannered,  clownish,  and  objects  only  of  ridicule.  Many 
persons  know  nothing  of  them  except  from  this  travesty. 
"What  a  contrast  is  presented  by  the  facts !  f 


*  "Life  of  Irving,"  by  his  Nephew,  i.  183. 

t  In  1668,  Colonel  Francis  Lovelace  vprote  from  New  York,  in  a 
private  letter  to  King  Charles  II.:  "I  find  some  of  these  people 
have  the  breeding  of  courts,  and  I  cannot  conceive  how  such  is  ac- 
quired." Lamb's  "History  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  i.  243.  This 
letter  was  written  sliortly  after  tlie  province  had  passed  from  the 
dominion  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  which  had  been  its 
owners  for  half  a  century.  Tlie  writer  was  an  Englishman,  the  offi- 
cial representative  of  the  Duke  of  York,  the  new  proprietor.  He  had 
sailed  up  the  Hudson  to  Esopus  and  Albany,  remaining  there  a 
week;  had  explored  Long  Island ;  had  been  fgted  in  the  infant  capi- 
tal; everywhere  had  seen  the  leading  families;  and  after  this  exami- 
nation wrote  his  letter  to  the  king.  He  evidently  had  met  different 
people  from  those  bred  in  the  fertile  imagination  of  Irving. 


PREFACE  Xlv 

Motley,  the  historian  of  the  Netherlanders,  himseK  a 
New-Englander,  says  that  they  were  "the  most  ener- 
getic and  quick-witted  people  of  the  world."  Guicciar- 
dini,  an  Italian,  who  lived  among  them  for  forty  years, 
said,  in  1563,  of  their  inventive  faculty :  "  They  have  a 
special  and  happy  talent  for  the  ready  invention  of  all 
sorts  of  machines,  ingenious  and  suitable  for  facilitating, 
shortening,  and  despatching  everything  they  do,  even  in 
the  matter  of  cooking."  Here  is  the  Yankee  of  Europe. 
Taine,  a  Frenchman,  fully  acquainted  with  English  in- 
stitutions, says  :  "  At  this  moment,  1609,  Holland,  on  the 
sea  and  in  the  world,  is  what  England  was  in  the  time 
of  jSTapoleon.  ^  *  *  Internally  their  government  is  as  good 
as  their  external  position  is  exalted.  For  the  first  time 
in  the  world,  conscience  is  free  and  the  rights  of  the 
citizens  are  respected.  *  *  *  In  culture  and  instruction,  as 
well  as  in  the  arts  of  organization  and  government,  the 
Dutch  are  two  centuries  ahead  of  the  rest  of  Europe."* 
It  must  now  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  when 
America  was  settled  the  N'etherland  Kepublic  was  a 
great  power  in  Europe,  with  a  population  about  as  large 
as  that  of  England,  and  one  incomparably  wealthier. 

When  aU  this  was  unthought  of,  and  when  original 
documents  were  inaccessible,  historians  were  hardly 
blameworthy  who  ignored  the  influence  of  Holland 
upon  England  and  America.  But  now  no  such  excuse 
exists.  To  history  the  words  of  Joubert  are  particularly 
applicable  :  "  Ignorance,  which  in  matters  of  morals  ex- 


*  "Art  in  the  Netherlands,"  Durand's  translation,  pp.  166,  169, 
171. 


xlvi  PREFACE 

tenuates  the  crime,  is  itself  in  matters  of  literature  a 
crime  of  the  first  order."  Of  this  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion when  a  writer  has  the  material  for  obtaining  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth.  Of  course,  if  he  has  the 
knowledge  and  conceals  it,  he  is  outside  the  literary- 
pale. 

So  much  for  the  Dutch  Puritans,  and  for  the  mode  in 
which  the  historians  of  England  and  America  have  dealt 
with  them.  But  their  'New  England  brethren  have,  in 
some  respects,  been  equally  unfortunate ;  not  that  they 
have  been  overlooked,  but  by  some  persons  wofully  mis- 
understood, if  not  wilfully  misrepresented. 

A  leading  literary  journal  of  England,  not  many  years 
ago,  contained  the  following  estimate  of  their  character : 
"  The  savage  brutality  of  the  American  Puritans,  truth- 
fully told,  would  afford  one  of  the  most  significant  and 
profitable  lessons  that  history  could  teach.  Champions 
of  liberty,  but  merciless  and  unprincipled  tyrants  ;  fugi- 
tives from  persecution,  but  the  most  senseless  and  reck- 
less of  persecutors;  claimants  of  an  enlightened  religion, 
but  the  last  upholders  of  the  cruel  and  ignorant  creed  of 
the  witch  doctors  ;  whining  over  the  ferocity  of  the  In- 
dian, yet  outdoing  that  ferocity  a  hundredfold  ;  com- 
plaining of  his  treachery,  yet,  as  their  descendants  have 
been  to  this  day,  treacherous,  with  a  deliberate  indiffer- 
ence to  plighted  faith  such  as  the  Indians  have  seldom 
shown — the  ancestors  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolutionary 
and  of  the  Civil  War  might  be  held  up  as  examples  of 
the  power  of  a  Calvinistic  religion  and  a  bigoted  repub- 
licanism to  demoralize  fair  average  specimens  of  a  race 
which,  under  better  influences,  has  shown  itself  the  least 


PREFACE  Xlvii 

cruel,  least  treacherous,  least  tyrannical  of  the  master 
races  of  the  world."  * 

This  is  a  strong  indictment  drawn  by  our  British 
cousins,  whose  opinions  some  of  us  are  accustomed  to 
hold  in  high  respect  when  other  people  feel  their  lash. 
But  whatever  its  source,  it,  without  question,  only 
slightly  exaggerates  the  estimate  of  the  New  England 
Puritans  held  by  a  large  number  of  persons,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  the  United  States.  Whether  this  esti- 
mate is  correct  or  not  is  a  question  forced  on  every  one 
who  cares  for  the  truth  of  history ;  and  from  some 
points  of  view  the  question  is  to-day  of  practical  im- 
portance. 

One  mode  of  meeting  such  charges  is  to  deny,  con- 
ceal, or  gloss  over  the  facts.  How  this  is  done  can  be 
seen  by  consulting  some  of  the  histories  of  ISTew  Eng- 
land, where  many  of  the  acts  of  intolerance  and  cruelty 
of  the  early  Puritans  are  concealed,  and  others  are  soft- 
ened down  to  a  few  trifling  peccadillos.f  Of  course, 
when  the  writer  of  such  books  is  confronted  with  the 
records,  he  has  no  refuge  except  in  silence.  This  will 
not  answer.  We  cannot,  by  closing  our  eyes,  seal  the 
records  to  the  world.  The  story  which  they  tell  is  very 
dark,  especially  as  to  the  Quakers  and  the  Indians.  It 
is  almost  pitiable  to  see  the  attempt  at  its  emasculation 
by  writers  who,  while  trying  to  praise,  seem  to  feel 


*  Tlie  Saturday  Review,  Jan.  29tli,  1881. 

t  All  tlie  histories  are  not,  however,  of  this  character.  That  of 
Hildreth  is  a  notable  exception,  but  it  is  little  read.  So,  also,  is 
"The  Emancipation  of  Massachusetts,"  by  Brooks  Adams. 


Xlviii  PREFACE 

ashamed  of  their  ancestors.  I  have  sometiraes  tried  to 
imagine  to  myself  the  effect  produced  among  their  de- 
scendants if  these  same  ancestors  could  for  a  brief  time 
return  to  earth,  and  be  invested  with  their  old  authori- 
ty. Think  of  them  reading  our  histories,  or  at  a  New 
England  dinner  listening  to  speeches  which  ascribe  to 
them  the  virtues  which  they  abhorred,  at  a  sacrifice  of 
those  which  they  held  in  special  honor.  Rude  and  un- 
civilized enough  they  were  in  many  things,  but  they 
trained  up  their  children  to  tell  the  truth  and  respect 
their  parents. 

Such  a  mode  of  dealing  with  the  question  is  not  good 
for  the  living,  nor  just  to  the  dead.  The  truth  is  al- 
ways best.  In  this  case  it  will  vindicate  Puritanism  if 
the  whole  of  it  is  told. 

The  essence  of  the  charge  made  by  the  Saturday  Re- 
view—^n^  this  publication,  always  unfriendly  to  every- 
thing American,  is  quoted  simply  because  it  is  the  rep- 
resentative of  a  large  class  of  critics — is  that  Puritanism 
was  responsible  for  the  actions  of  some  of  the  New  Eng- 
land settlers ;  that  is  to  say,  they  were  intolerant  and 
sometimes  cruel,  because  they  were  Calvinists  in  religion 
and  republicans  in  politics.  But  investigation  will  show 
that  in  this,  the  vital,  the  enduring  question  of  the  con- 
troversy, the  facts  of  historj^  do  not  bear  out  the  charge. 
In  support  of  this  position,  there  are  two  entirely  distinct 
lines  of  argument,  each  of  itself  conclusive. 

The  first  deals  with  the  Puritans  of  Holland.  They 
were,  like  their  New  England  brethren,  Calvinists  and 
republicans.  They  sealed  their  devotion  to  the  faith  by 
carrying  through  a  war  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 


PREFACE  Xlix 

arms,  and  founding  a  republic  which  endured  for  over 
two  centuries.  No  one  who  knows  their  history  can 
question  their  zeal  as  Calvinists  or  their  love  of  liberty 
as  men;  but  neither  at  home  nor  in  America  do  we 
find  them,  with  their  long  training  in  self-government, 
exhibiting  the  traits  of  character  which  are  charged  to 
Puritanism  in  Ne^v  England.  This  alone  ought  to  set- 
tle the  question  forever.  It  shows  that,  whatever  else 
may  have  been  the  cause,  the  faults  of  our  New  Eng- 
land ancestors  are  not  chargeable  to  their  theological 
tenets  or  their  love  for  republican  institutions. 

The  second  line  of  argument  is  broader  in  its  scope. 
Admitting  all  that  can  be  said  in  truth  about  the  New 
England  Puritans,  yet  it  can  be  shown  from  the  rec- 
ords of  England  that  their  actions  were  simply  those 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race ;  that,  on  the  whole,  its  Amer- 
ican representatives  were  far  in  advance  of  the  men 
who  remained  at  home,  and  much  earlier  freed  them- 
selves from  superstition  and  intolerance.  In  other 
words,  that  it  was  not  the  Puritan,  but  the  Englishman, 
who  perpetrated  the  offences  against  humanity  which 
want  of  knowledge  charges  to  popular  government  and 
a  Calvinistic  faith. 

Thanks  to  the  progress  made  in  historical  investiga- 
tion during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  the  proofs  for 
the  establishment  of  this  position  are  overwhelmingly 
abundant.  They  will  not  be  found  in  the  ordinary 
school  histories,  nor  collected  in  any  English  book.  Still 
the  records  are  there,  and  they  are  supplemented  by  the 
observations  of  keen-eyed  foreigners  from  all  quarters, 

whose  notes  and  comments  have  been  brought  to  light 
D 


i  PREFACE 

in  the  last  few  years.  In  the  general  rewriting  of  Eu- 
ropean history,  now  in  progress,  founded  not  only  on 
new  material,  but  on  new  modes  of  investigation,  some 
chapters  in  that  of  England  will  have  to  be  revised,  at 
least  for  the  American  reader.  Enough,  however,  has 
been  already  done  to  dispose  of  the  illusion  of  the 
"good  old  times"  when  the  Puritan  came  into  exist- 
ence. The  brilliant  fictions  woven  by  the  poet  and  the 
novelist  about  the  Elizabethan  age  may  make  the  next 
period  of  stern  reality,  in  which  the  Puritan  came  into 
authority,  seem  harsh  and  forbidding ;  but  when  the 
light  of  truth  is  turned  upon  those  early  days,  and  we 
see  them  as  they  appeared  to  men  living  at  that  time, 
we  shall  begin  to  understand  what  the  modern  world 
owes  to  English  Puritanism,  with  all  its  excesses  and 
shortcomings. 

It  is  in  this  mode  of  treatment,  not  by  conceahng 
their  faults,  but  by  telling  the  whole  truth,  and  compar- 
ing them  with  their  countrymen  at  home,  who  had  not 
even  the  excuse  of  their  intense  convictions,  that  we 
should  seek  the  vindication  of  the  ISTew  England  Puri- 
tans. Were  they  alive,  they  would  approve  of  this 
course  themselves.  They  asked  for  no  false  reputations 
when  on  earth.  They  were  great  enough,  and  have 
done  enough  for  humanity,  to  stand  forth  and,  like 
Cromwell,  be  painted  without  the  concealment  of  a  de- 
fect or  the  exaggeration  of  a  virtue.  In  some  direc- 
tions they  had  not  travelled  very  far.  They  had  but 
faint  ideas  of  civil  or  religious  liberty,  as  we  understand 
them  after  two  centuries  and  a  half  of  substantial  self- 
government,  or  even  as  they  were  understood  among 


PREFACE 


the  republicans  of  Holland,  who  had  long  before  started 
on  the  journey.  But  Ave  should  remember  that  men 
must  first  get  liberty  for  themselves  before  they  think 
of  it  for  others.  The  homeless  man  has  little  scope  for 
hospitality.  Broad  conceptions  of  liberty  come  very 
slowly  to  maturity.  These  settlers  sprang  from  a  race 
which  for  generations  had  lived  under  the  despotism  of 
the  Tudors  and  the  Stuarts.  Their  first  idea  was  to 
build  a  home  for  their  own  shelter,  and  to  secure  the 
rights  whose  value  they  had  only  begun  to  realize. 
While  this  work  was  going  on  there  would  naturally, 
save  in  rare  and  exceptional  natures,  be  but  little 
thought  of  others;  but  when  self  -  protection  was  as- 
sured, when  his  own  home  was  finished,  the  Puritan 
never  sat  down  to  selfish  ease,  regardless  of  the  hun- 
gry and  the  houseless. 

This  work  I  have  intended  mainly  as  an  introduction 
to  American  history,  although  it  may  also  serve  in 
some  measure  as  an  introduction  to  modern  English 
history,  in  which  Puritanism  has  played  a  leading  part. 
My  principal  design  has  been  to  show  the  nature  of  the 
influences  which  shaped  the  character  of  the  people  of 
Holland  and  England  when  the  early  settlers  of  Amer- 
ica left  their  homes,  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  ideas  and 
institutions  which  these  settlers  brought  with  them 
across  the  ocean,  and  to  explain  the  mode  in  which 
they  have  worked  into  our  present  constitutional  sys- 
tem. 

In  following  out  this  scheme,  an  introductory  chapter 
points  out  the  present  differences  between  England  and 
the  United  States — differences  of  the  most  marked  char- 


Hi  PREFACE 

acter,  extending  to  a  wide  range  of  subjects  of  great  im- 
portance. The  subsequent  chapters  relate  to  the  history 
of  Holland  and  England,  their  comparative  civilization 
when  America  was  settled,  the  institutions  which  each 
country  had  developed,  the  growth  of  their  Puritanism, 
and  the  influence  exerted  upon  England  and  America 
by  the  Dutch  Eepublic.  In  the  chapters  relating  to 
England  an  attempt  is  also  made,  while  tracing  the  de- 
velopment of  Puritanism  in  that  country,  to  show  the 
origin  of  its  peculiarities  which  have  excited  so  much  ad- 
verse criticism.  These  peculiarities  are  shown,  in  the 
light  of  modern  research,  to  be  due  simply  to  the  con 
ditions  under  which  it  was  developed  among  the  Eng 
lish  people.  In  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  as  I  can 
foresee,  the  inherited  illusions  of  some  of  my  readers 
may  be  unpleasantly  disturbed,  although  it  is  difficult 
for  me  personally  to  understand  a  reluctance  to  know, 
ing  the  truth  about  one's  ancestors.  This  perhaps  arises 
from  the  fact  that,  Avhile  some  of  mine  were  among  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  others  came  from  a  race  the  recent 
savagery  of  which  is  admitted  with  perfect  frankness  by 
all  English  writers.  But  New-Englanders,  like  Scotch^ 
men,  and  like  their  English  brethren,  may  take  such 
pride  in  what  their  countrymen  have  accomplished  since 
the  days  of  the  Stuarts  that  they  can  afford  to  do  away 
with  fiction.  Knowing  the  truth,  one  can  judge  whether 
the  world  has  retrograded  or  advanced  with  the  develop- 
ment of  liberal  institutions,  and  perhaps  can  draw  some 
useful  lessons  for  the  future. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work 
to  follow  the  settlers  of  America  into  their  new  home, 


PUEFACE 


liii 


except  so  far  as  to  describe  some  of  their  leading  insti- 
tutions, and  to  show  how  the  much-criticised  treatment 
of  the  Baptists,  the  Quakers,  and  the  witches  by  the 
Puritans  of  New  England  compared  with  that  to  which 
the  same  classes  were  subjected  in  the  mother  country. 
Hereafter,  if  the  patience  of  the  public  be  not  exhausted, 
I  may  attempt  to  show  what  was  accomplished  directly 
for  America  by  the  men  from  republican  Holland  who 
settled  the  cotony  of  New  York. 

In  now  closing  this  somewhat  extended  preface,  a  few 
words  must  be  added  in  acknowledgment  of  the  assist- 
ance which  has  been  rendered  me  by  others. 

In  the  first  place,  to  my  many  friends  of  the  Century 
Club  of  New  York,  where  a  considerable  part  of  my 
investigations  have  been  carried  on,  my  thanks  are  due 
for  suggestions,  references  to  books,  and  information  on 
special  subjects,  which  have  all  been  of  the  greatest 
value.  Apart  from  these  general  contributions,  I  am  in 
this  country  chiefly  indebted  to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Charles  A. 
Briggs,  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York ; 
Prof.  C.  C.  Langdell,  of  the  Harvard  Law  School ;  Prof. 
A.  M.  Wheeler,  of  Yale  CoUege;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William 
C.  Brownell,  of  New  York  —  all  of  whom  have  read 
parts  of  my  manuscript  —  and  to  the  Rev.  Henry 
U.  Swinnerton,  of  Cherry  Valley,  who  has  read  the 
whole ;  the  latter  four  making  many  valuable  sugges- 
tions. None  of  these  scholars  are  responsible  for  the 
defects  of  my  book  or  for  any  of  my  conclusions ;  but 
for  their  scholarly  offices  so  generously  extended  I  de- 
sire to  express  my  grateful  acknowledgments. 

In  another  quarter  my  obhgations  are  of  a  different 


liv  PREFACE 

character.  Since  illness  has  interrupted  my  personal 
investigations  in  Holland,  I  have  been  compelled  to  do 
this  work  from  across  an  ocean,  relying  entirely  on 
foreign  aid.  This,  however,  has  been  so  lavishly  extend- 
ed that  probably  I  should  have  accomplished  nothing 
more,  perhaps  even  less,  in  attempting  to  carry  on  my 
further  researches  in  person,  unless  I  had  settled  down 
in  the  country  for  a  residence  of  3^ears.  For  this  aid 
my  thanks  are  in  the  first  place  due  to  my  old  class- 
mate of  thirty-one  years  ago  at  Union  College,  the 
Hon.  Samuel  K.  Thayer,  now  the  United  States  Minister 
at  The  Hague.  E'ot  only  have  he  and  his  eificient  private 
secretaries  furnished  me  with  copies  of  many  valuable 
documents  from  the  archives  of  the  Netherlands  which 
I  felt  confident  existed  there,  and  which  never  before 
had  been  given  to  the  American  public,  but  he  has  en- 
listed in  my  behalf  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
scholars  of  the  country. 

These  scholars,  who  have  a  microscopic  acquaintance 
with  the  history  of  their  own  land  which  every  student 
may  well  envy,  have  rendered  me  invaluable  assistance 
in  the  solution  of  problems  connected  with  their  ancient 
republican  institutions,  some  of  which  have  disappeared 
in  modern  days.  How  much  I  am  indebted  to  them 
only  the  historical  investigator  can  appreciate  who 
knows  what  it  is  to  hunt  for  days  or  weeks  through 
musty  records  or  worm-eaten  volumes  often  for  a  single 
fact.  The  kindness  extended  to  me  has  not  been  ex- 
ceptional, for  the  scholars  of  the  l^etherlands  are  world- 
famous  for  the  liberality  with  which  they  impart  their 
knowledge — a  liberality  of  which  every  American  who 


PREFACE  Iv 

has  ever  applied  to  them  has  had  ample  proof.  Still,  I 
appreciate  it  none  the  less.  When  I  owe  a  debt  to  so 
many,  it  may  perhaps  seem  invidious  to  make  an}^  dis- 
tinction ;  yet  it  is  but  fair  to  say  that  my  chief  acknowl- 
edgments are  due  to  the  late  Dr.  M.  F.  A.  G.  Campbell, 
Librarian  of  the  Koyal  Library  at  The  Hague ;  Dr.  P. 
J.  Blok,  Professor  of  History  at  the  University  of  Gron- 
ingen;  and  Dr.  F.  G.  Slothouwer,  Professor  of  History 
at  the  Latin  School  of  Leeuwarden,  in  Friesland. 

January,  1892. 


NOTE  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 

A  new  edition  of  this  work  having  been  called  for, 
the  author  has  made  a  few  small  changes  in  the  original 
text,  which  have  been  kindly  suggested  by  Mr.  Justin 
Winsor,  Librarian  of  Harvard  University ;  Mr.  Andrew 
S.  Draper,  late  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
in  New  York;  Mr.  S.  E.  Yan  Campen,  an  American 
scholar,  resident  in  London,  engaged  in  Dutch  researches; 
and  Mr.  Burton  N.  Harrison,  of  New  York. 

Cherry  Valley,  K  Y.,  August,  1893. 


NOTE   TO   THIRD  EDITION. 

For  this  edition  I  have  made  a  few  shght  changes, 
most  of  which  have  been  suggested  by  kindly  critics 
in  tliis  country  and  in  Europe,  to  all  of  whom  I  desire 
to  express  my  thanks.  The  corrections  are  mainly  of  a 
slight  order,  not  affecting  the  general  argument  of  the 
book. 

Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  JDec.  1th,  1892. 


NOTE  TO   FOURTH  EDITION. 

A  fourth  edition  of  this  work  has  been  called  for 
earlier  than  the  author  expected.  For  this  edition  a 
few  more  corrections  have  been  made,  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  those  appearing  in  former  editions.  The  work 
has  now  been  six  months  before  the  public.  It  has  been 
noticed  or  reviewed  in  about  two  hundred  magazines 
and  papers  in  America,  Holland,  and  England — some 
few  of  its  critics  have  differed  from  the  author's  con- 
clusions, but  it  has  been  a  source  of  gratification  to  him 
to  find  that  they  have  pointed  out  no  essential  error  in 
his  narrative.  For  its  cordial  reception  he  wishes  to  ex- 
press his  warm  thanks  to  the  public. 

Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  10<7«,  1893. 


THE  PURITAN 

IN 

HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 


INTRODUCTION 

THE   PEOPLE   AND   INSTITUTIONS   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES 

Most  American  authors,  and  all  Englishmen  who  have 
written  of  America,  set  out  with  the  theory  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  an  English  race,  and 
that  their  institutions,  when  not  original,  are  derived 
from  England.  These  assumptions  underlie  all  Ameri- 
can histories,  and  they  have  come  to  be  so  generally 
accepted  that  to  question  them  seems  almost  to  savor 
of  temerity.  Perhaps,  however,  the  temerity  is  only 
in  the  seeming.  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  in  one  of 
his  charming  tales,  describes  a  royal  court  all  of  whose 
members  believed  that  the  emperor  was  arrayed  in  price- 
less garments  from  a  magic  loom,  until  he  showed  him- 
self unclothed  in  the  public  street,  and  a  little  urchin 
blabbed  the  truth.  Then  every  one  perceived  that  the 
magic  garments  had  no  existence  except  in  their  imag- 
inations. And  so,  when  men  and  nations  reach  the 
stage  in  their  development  where  they  use  their  own 
eyes  instead  of  echoing  the  thoughts  of  others,  popular 
delusions  often  vanish  before  a  breath. 
I— 1 


2  THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

In  history  this  process  is  rapidly  going  on.  The  dis- 
covery of  new  facts  from  year  to  year  shatters  the  idols 
of  centuries,  rehabilitates  injured  reputations,  and  throws 
light  on  disputed  or  obscure  questions ;  but,  what  is  of 
greater  importance,  the  people  of  this  generation  are 
getting  out  of  leading-strings,  are  seeing  with  their  own 
eyes,  and  thinking  for  themselves.  Thus  subjecting  even 
old  facts  to  an  original  examination,  regardless  of  prej- 
udice and  untrammelled  by  convention,  the  history  of  all 
countries  is  assuming  a  new  form.  "  Brains,"  says  Ma- 
chiavelli,  "are  of  three  generations — those  that  under- 
stand for  themselves,  those  that  understand  when  another 
shows  them,  and  those  that  understand  neither  of  them- 
selves nor  by  the  showing  of  another."  The  last,  of 
course,  are  always  hopeless,  but  the  first  class  is  rapidly 
increasing.  To  its  members  the  history  of  America 
looked  at  only  as  an  offshoot  from  England  must  al- 
ways seem  incomplete  and  full  of  contradictions.  To 
reconcile  these  apparent  contradictions,  fill  out  the  rec- 
ord, and  show  the  growth  of  the  republic  as  a  consistent 
whole,  two  facts  should  be  given  their  proper  place — that 
the  population  of  America  has  always  been  largely  cos- 
mopolitan, and  that  its  institutions  have  been  gathered 
from  many  quarters  of  the  globe. 

Of  course,  if  these  propositions  are  correct,  we  must 
change  the  point  of  view  to  which  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed in  the  study  of  our  early  history.  If  it  is  true 
that  our  people  and  institutions  come  largely  from  other 
lands  than  England,  it  is  important  to  see  how  these 
foreign  races  developed  in  their  homes,  and  of  still  greater 
moment  to  learn  the  history,  character,  and  workings  of 
the  institutions  which  are  un-English  in  their  origin. 
This  is  the  only  philosophic  mode  of  treating  history, 
and  it  is  the  only  way  in  which  it  can  be  made  of  value. 


WHY  AMERICANS  ARK   REGARDED  AS  AN   ENGLISH    RACE  3 

To  begin  with  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  or  the  land- 
ing of  the  Mayflower,  is  well  enough  if  America  is  simply 
England  transplanted  across  the  sea.  But  if  America  is 
much  more  than  a  transplanted  England,  the  case  is  very 
different.  Then  the  neglect  of  the  other  nations  which 
have  contributed  to  its  population  and  institutions  leads 
to  a  result  like  that  of  writing  a  biography  without 
referring  to  the  subject's  ancestors  or  describing  his 
youth  and  education. 

How  the  idea  that  the  Americans  are  purely  an  Eng- 
lish race  has  been  developed  is  apparent  at  a  glance. 
Englishmen,  when  in  good  humor,  or  "afraid  we  may 
do  them  a  mischief,"  as  Lowell  says,*  call  us  their  kin 
across  sea,  American  cousins,  or  children  of  the  mother 
country,  although  always  expressing  surprise  that  the 
offspring  bears  so  little  resemblance  to  its  fond  parent.f 
On  the  other  hand,  Americans  have  done  their  part. 
Until  a  recent  date,  many  of  our  writers  seemed  to  think 
that  England  held  the  only  stamp,  for  literary  as  well 
as  social  reputation ;  and  perhaps  even  now  society  has 
not  a  monopoly  of  the  class  whose  members  feel  flat- 
tered at  being  mistaken  for  second-rate  Englishmen. 
The  mass  of  the  people,  however,  have  no  such  feeling. 
Independence  has  come,  or  at  least  is  speedily  coming, 
in  thought  as  well  as  in  political  relations.  This  tiie 
future  historian  will  notice  as  one  of  the  most  important 
results  flowing  from  the  great  civil  war,  which  first  gave 
Americans  assurance  of  the  strength  of  the  republic. 

Looking  back,  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  we  see  the 


*  "  Among  My  Books,"  p.  239. 

t  "  The  American  Philistine,  however,  is  certainly  far  more  differetit 
from  his  English  brothers  than  I  had  before  supposed." — Matthew  Ar- 
nold, after  his  first  visit  to  America.     Nineteenth  Century,  Feb.,  1885. 


4  THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

effects  produced  upon  Greece  by  the  defeat  of  the  Per- 
sian invaders,  upon  England  by  the  annihilation  of  the 
Spanish  Armada,  and  upon  Holland  by  the  victory  over 
Spain.  The  results  in  America  of  a  gigantic  struggle 
for  national  existence,  carried  to  a  successful  termination, 
will  be  no  less  far-reaching.  We  see  them  already  in  the 
marvellous  development  of  the  industrial  pursuits  of  the 
country,  in  literature,  science,  and  art ;  and  they  will  be 
still  more  marked  in  time.  Not  the  least  important, 
however — for  it  is  connected  with  all  the  others — is  the 
change  of  feeling  in  America  regarding  our  relations  to 
other  countries,  and  especially  to  Great  Britain. 

A  few  years  ago,  although  we  professed  to  care  noth- 
ing for  foreign  opinion,  the  author  of  an  American  book 
waited  with  bated  breath  until  he  heard  what  the  Eng- 
lish critics  had  to  say  about  it,  and  our  grandiloquent 
orators  and  editors  never  felt  happy  unless  the  traveller 
w^iom  they  patronized  praised  our  "glorious  institu- 
tions." "  But  to-day.  our  American  authors,  artists,  archi- 
tects, scholars,  and  men  of  science  no  longer  need  to  look 
abroad  to  secure  a  reputation.  As  for  our  institutions, 
they  have  stood  the  crucial  test  of  war.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  we  shall  never  undervalue  their  earnest  crit- 
icism from  any  quarter,  but  the  American  has  the  feel- 
ing that  in  some  respects  he  understands  their  nature 
better  than  a  foreigner.  Our  revolution  gave  us  political 
independence ;  perhaps  our  civil  war  was  needed  to  give 


*  It  was  this  feeling  which  led  to  the  bitter  resentment  of  the 
criticisms  published  by  writers  like  Mrs.  Trollope  and  Charles  Dick- 
ens. Many  of  our  people  felt  like  lynching  Mr.  Dickens  for  his 
early  remarks  about  America ;  but  a  recent  English  traveller,  Sir 
Lepel  Griffin,  has  said  things  much  more  severe.  Yet  of  him  few 
Americans  have  even  heard,  and  those  who  have  read  his  book 
merely  smile  and  think  him  entitled  to  his  opinions. 


ENGLISH   IGNORANCE    OF  AMERICA  5 

US  intellectual  independence  as  well.  Gne  thing  is  very 
clear :  The  time  has  passed  for  conjuring  with  the  wand 
of  British  authority.  America  is  no  longer  on  her 
knees ;  she  has  risen,  and  begins  to  look  around  her. 
'No  wonder  if  she  should  now  call  in  question  some  of 
the  traditions  about  her  pedigree. 

For  the  average  Englishman  who  thinks  of  the  Amer- 
icans as  a  pure  Enghsh  race  there  is  great  excuse.  Of 
their  country,  until  within  the  past  few  years,  he  knew 
comparatively  nothing,  except  that  the  English  language 
was  spoken  here,  and  that  at  one  time  some  of  the  states 
were  British  colonies.*     But  with  Americans  the  case  is 


*  One  notable  exception  should  be  made,  however,  in  this  connec- 
tion. In  a  speech  delivered  in  London  on  April  28th,  1887,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone said :  "  The  institutions  and  progress  of  the  United  States  have 
always  been  subjects  of  great  interest  to  me,  ever  since,  many  years 
ago,  I  studied  the  life  of  Washington.  I  became  then  aware,  first, 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  destiny  reserved  for  Americans,  and,  second, 
of  the  fact  that  the  period  of  the  birth  of  the  American  States  was 
of  more  interest  than  any  other  it  was  possible  to  study.  Whenever 
a  youth,  desirous  of  studying  political  life,  consults  me  respecting  a 
course  of  study  in  the  field  of  history,  I  always  refer  him  to  tlie  early 
history  of  America." — N.  Y.  Tribune^  April  27th,  1887.  In  a  speech 
delivered  at  Chester,  Oct.  26th,  1889,  Mr.  Gladstone  urged  the 
workingmen  of  England  to  study  the  history  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution. The  system  of  government  in  America,  he  said,  combined 
that  love  of  freedom,  respect  for  law,  and  desire  for  order  which 
formed  the  surest  elements  of  national  excellence  and  greatness.  It 
was  no  extravagance  to  say  that,  although  there  were  only  three  mill- 
ion people  in  the  thirteen  states  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the 
group  of  statesmen  that  proceeded  from  them  were  a  match  for  any 
in  the  whole  history  of  the  world,  and  were  superior  to  those  of  any 
other  one  epoch.— iV.  T.  Tribune,  Oct.  27th,  1889.  Again,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone said,  a  little  later :  "  I  incline  to  think  that  the  future  of  Amer- 
ica is  of  greater  importance  to  Christendom  at  large  than  that  of 
any  other  country." — North  American  Review,  Dec,  1889. 


6  THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

quite  different.  Many  of  tliem  have  visited  Upper  Can- 
ada and  JSTova  Scotia,  which  are  settled  by  a  race  ahnost 
wholly  British  in  its  origin.  I^o  one  can  see  these  Cana- 
dians without  being  struck  at  once  with  the  contrasts 
between  them  and  the  men  he  meets  at  home.*  Still 
more  of  our  people  have  within  the  past  few  years 
travelled  in  England.  Certainly  no  intelligent  Ameri- 
can can  remain  there  long,  talk  with  peasant,  farmer, 
and  country  squire,  listen  to  the  conversation  in  cars, 
hotels,  and  shops,  experiment  with  a  humorous  story  on 
a  party  of  Englishmen,  go  beneath  the  mere  surface  of 
dress  and  language,  and  study  the  people  as  he  does 
those  of  the  Continent,  and  then  believe  that  we  are  of 
the  same  race,  except  as  members  of  the  same  Aryan  di- 
vision of  the  human  family,  with  the  same  human  nature. 
Identity  of  language  is  a  great  bond  of  union,  and  so 
is  community  of  literature.  But  these,  and  especially 
the  latter,  may  induce  very  erroneous  conclusions  when 
we  come  to  deal  with  historical  questions.  Accustomed 
to  read  few  modern  foreign  books  except  those  written 
by  English  authors,  it  was  very  natural  for  our  fathers 
to  think  only  of  their  English  blood.  They  found  in  the 
pages  of  the  poet  and  the  novelist  of  England  their  own 
natures  depicted,  and  thence,  perhaps  hastily,  concluded 
that  they  were  one  people  with  the  writers.  The  fact 
is  that  human  nature  is  essentially  the  same  all  the 
world  over.  We  are  not  Hebrews  because  the  Proverbs 
of  Solomon  are  so  applicable  to  us,  nor  French  nor  Ger- 
man, because  Montaigne  and  Goethe  tell  us  how  we  feel 
and  think.  The  present  generation  is  reading  a  host  of 
books  written  b}^  foreigners,  French,  German,  and  Rus- 


*  So  tlie  people  of  Australia  are  purely  English  in  manner,  modes 
of  thought,  etc.     See  Froude's  "  Oceana." 


DIVERSITY   OF   RACE   IN    THE   UNITED    STATES  7 

sian,  but  everywhere  we  see  a  picture  of  the  same  human 
nature,  if  the  books  are  true  to  life. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  some  of  the  facts,  remembering 
that  there  were  twelve  states  in  the  original  Union,  ex- 
clusive of  Massachusetts,  the  maker  of  our  histories  and 
school-books.  In  1759,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Burnaby,  an  Eng- 
lishman, visited  America.  Of  the  Northern  colonies  in 
general,  he  said  that  they  "are  composed  of  people  of 
different  religions  and  different  languages."  *  In  Penn- 
sylvania he  found  the  most  enterprising  people  of  the 
continent.  These,  he  noticed,  consisted  of  several  na- 
tions, who  spoke  several  languages — "  they  are  aliens  in 
some  respects  to  Great  Britain."  f  In  New  York  City 
he  found  that  half  of  the  inhabitants  were  Dutch ;  of 
the  population  in  general  he  remarked :  "  Being  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  different  languages,  and  different  relig- 
ions, it  is  impossible  to  give  them  any  precise  or  defi- 
nite character."  A  century  before,  a  traveller  reported 
that  eighteen  languages  were  spoken  on  Manhattan  Isl- 
and. This  was  probably  an  exaggeration,  but  it  had  a 
broad  basis  of  truth.  How  great  was  this  original  di- 
versity of  origin  is  shown  in  the  fact  first  pointed  out 
by  Governor  Horatio  Seymour :  "  Mne  men  prominent 
in  the  early  history  of  ISTew  York  and  of  the  Union  rep- 
resent the  same  number  of  nationalities.  Schuyler  was 
of  Holland,  Herkimer  of  German,  Jay  of  French,  Liv- 
ingston of  Scotch,  Clinton  of  Irish,  Morris  of  Welsh, 
and  Hoffman  of  Swedish  descent.  Hamilton  was  born 
in  one  of  the  English  "West  India  islands,  and  Baron 
Steuben,  who  became  a  citizen  of  New  York  after  the 
Revolutionary  War,  was  a  Prussian."  ■^ 


*  "  Burnaby's  Travels,"  p.  201.  t  Idem,  p.  109. 

X  "  History  and  Topography  of  New  York  :  a  Lecture,"  by  Horatio 
Sevmour. 


8  TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

No  one  acquainted  with  the  barest  outlines  of  Amer- 
ican history  needs  to  be  told  about  these  men.  Hamil- 
ton organized  the  government  of  the  United  States.  He 
was  the  head  of  the  Federalist  party,  and  many  per- 
sons think  the  greatest  statesman  that  America  has 
ever  known.  His  influence  on  American  thought  and 
institutions  was  only  equalled  by  that  of  Jefferson, 
who  was  the  representative  of  Democracy  almost  pure 
and  simple.  These  two  men,  more  than  all  others, 
shaped  the  future  of  the  United  States;  and  yet  the 
one,  although  a  !N"ew- Yorker  by  adoption,  was  born 
of  a  Scotch  father  and  a  French  mother,  and  the  other, 
who  was  probably  of  Welsh  and  Scotch  extraction,  was 
French  in  all  his  feelings,  having  no  English  ideas.* 
Jefferson  said,  "  Every  man  has  two  countries,  his  own 
and  France ;"  and  it  was  from  the  writers  of  France 
that  he  drew  the  principles  on  which  his  political  the- 
ories were  based.f 

Of  the  other  ISTew- Yorkers  un-English  in  their  extrac- 
tion, Jay  was  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
Clinton  was  the  great  Northern  founder  of  the  Anti- 


*  Like  most  of  the  Eevolutionary  statesmen  of  Virginia,  Jefferson 
came  from  what  Lincoln  has  called  the  "  plain  people,"  and  little  is 
known  with  certainty  about  his  pedigree.  There  is  no  proof,  how- 
ever, tliat  he  was  of  English  descent,  and  the  family  traditions  are 
that  his  paternal  ancestor  came  from  Wales.  In  many  of  his  char- 
acteristics he  was  certainly  more  of  a  Celt  than  an  Anglo-Saxon. 
His  mother  was  a  RandoljDh,  of  a  family  claiming  to  be  descended 
from  the  Scotch  Earls  of  Murray.  Parton's  "  Life  of  Jefferson ;°' 
Randall's  "  Life  of  Jefferson,"  i.  6,  7. 

t  In  view  of  these  facts,  one  perhaps  can  understand  why  it  was 
that,  while  Englishmen  knew  nothing  of  America,  the  first  foreigner 
to  attempt  a  criticism  of  its  institutions  was  the  Frenchman  De 
Tocqueville. 


DIVERSITY   OP    RACE    IN   THE    UNITED    STATES  9 

Federalist  (now  the  Democratic)  party ;  while  the  Mor- 
rises and  Livingstons  played  leading  parts  in  American 
affairs.  These  were  the  men  who  framed  the  Constitu- 
tion of  New  York,  declared  by  John  Adams  to  be  excel- 
lent over  all  others.  It  is  their  state  which  first  intro- 
duced the  legal  reforms  which  have  revolutionized  the 
procedure  and  methods  of  jurisprudence  of  America  and 
England. 

But  it  was  not  Kew  York  alone  that  was  affected  by  this 
intermixture  of  blood.  Pennsylvania,  which  contributed 
largely  to  American  institutions,  Delaware,  and  'New 
Jersey  were  settled  by  men  of  diverse  nationalities,  so 
that  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  probably  only  a 
minority  of  their  inhabitants  were  of  English  origin.* 
In  addition,  all  through  the  other  colonies  were  scat- 
tered large  numbers  of  Scotch-Irish,  French  Huguenots, 
Germans,  Irish,  Scotch,  "Welsh,  and  Swedes,  counted  as 
English,  but  essentially  modifying  the  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation and  the  national  type.f 

English  travellers  constantly  express  surprise  that  the 
English  race  in  America,  as  they  are  pleased  to  call  us, 
should  be  so  different  from  the  same  race  at  home.  Here 


*  "  Life  of  Gonverneuv  Morris,"  by  Theodore  Eoosevelt,  p.  11. 

t  Only  tlie  most  careful  study  will  enable  one  to  approximate  to 
any  correct  figures  on  this  subject.  In  regard,  to  the  Huguenots,  the 
work  has  been  begun  in  an  admirable  history  by  Baird  of  the 
"Huguenot  Emigration  to  America,"  which  unfortunately  death  has 
interrupted.  The  results  of  similar  investigations  as  to  other  nation- 
alities would  probably  surprise  the  public.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  as  to  the  Scotch-Irish,  whose  history  in  America  has  never  been 
attempted.  In  the  last  chapter  of  this  work  I  shall  have  something 
to  say  about  these  men,  showing  what  multitudes  of  them  flocked 
through  Pennsylvania  and  the  Southern  colonies  before  the  Revo- 
lution, and  what  an  important  influence  they  exerted  upon  the  fort- 
unes of  their  adopted  country.. 


10  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

in  America  the  people,  looking  at  political  and  social 
questions,  "  see  straight  and  think  clear,"  according  to 
Matthew  Arnold,  while  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
as  he  saj^s,  they  certainly  do  not.  This  surprise  will  re- 
main just  so  long  as  the  delusion  exists  that  the  Amer- 
icans are  of  pure  English  descent,  and  the  influence  of 
other  nations  upon  them  continues  to  be  ov^looked. 
Let  any  reader  apply  the  test,  and  inquire  among  his 
acquaintances.  He  will  probably  find  very  few  who, 
being  able  to  trace  their  ancestry  back  on  its  different 
sides  for  several  generations,  are  of  unmixed  stock. 
English  blood  most  of  them  will  have,  and  they  ought 
to  prize  it  for  its  pluck  and  sturdy  manliness  ;  but  cross- 
ing this  will  be  found,  in  almost  every  case,  the  blood 
of  other  nations  with  qualities  that  the  English  have 
never  had.* 

*  A  great  modern  thinker  thus  expresses  his  opinion  as  to  the 
ultimate  effect  upon  America  of  this  intermingling  of  nationalities, 
now  going  on  more  rapidly  than  ever :  "  From  biological  truths  it 
may  be  inferred  that  the  eventual  mixture  of  the  allied  varieties  of 
the  Aryan  race  forming  the  population  will  produce  a  finer  type  of 
man  than  has  hitherto  existed,  and  a  type  of  man  more  plastic,  more 
adaptable,  more  capable  of  undergoing  tlie  modifications  needed  for 
complete  social  life.  I  think  that  whatever  difliiculties  they  may 
have  to  surmount,  and  whatever  tribulations  they  may  have  to  pass 
through,  the  Americans  may  reasonably  look  forward  to  a  time 
•when  they  will  have  produced  a  civilization  grander  than  any  the 
world  has  known." — "  Herbert  Spencer  in  America,"  p.  19.  I  trust 
that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  here,  once  for  all,  that  my  quota- 
tions like  those  from  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Herbert  Spencer  are  not 
made  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  vanity  of  a  nation  whicli  in  so 
many  departments  has  as  yet  little  to  be  proud  of,  but  simply  to 
show  that  even  intelligent  English  observers  notice  the  marked  dif- 
ference between  the  people  of  America  and  those  of  the  mother 
country.  The  sober-minded  reader  will  draw  his  conclusions  from 
the  facts. 


INSTITUTIONS  11 

Turning  now  from  the  question  of  race  to  that  of 
institutions,  a  subject  which  some  may  think  much 
more  important,  we  reach  a  simpler  field.  Here  is  no 
room  for  conjecture  or  mere  opinion.  We  have  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  two  countries  before  us ;  they  can  be 
compared  by  any  one  acquainted  with  them  both,  and  the 
result  speaks  for  itself.  Instead  of  those  of  the  United 
States  being  derived  from  England,  it  is  a  curious  fact 
that,  while  we  have  in  the  main  English  social  customs 
and  traits  of  character,  we  have  scarcely  a  legal  or  politi- 
cal institution  of  importance  which  is  of  English  origin, 
and  but  few  which  have  come  to  us  by  the  way  of 
England. 

The  influence  of  institutions  upon  national  character 
has  been,  perhaps,  exaggerated  by  some  writers;  it  cer- 
tainly has  been  underestimated  by  others.  The  French 
are  inclined  to  the  exaggeration,  the  English  to  the  under- 
estimate. Of  course  institutions  should  be  adapted  to  a 
people,  just  as  a  school  should  be  adapted  to  a  scholar's 
capacity.  A  tribe  of  savages  would  be  benefited  as  little 
by  a  system  of  government  borrowed  from  a  civilized 
nation  as  a  little  child  would  be  benefited  by  a  post- 
graduate course  at  a  college.  All  this  is  true  enough, 
and  in  this  is  summed  up  much  of  what  is  meant  when 
institutions  are  spoken  of  as  a  growth.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  as  a  child  may  develop  into  a  scholar  in  one  school 
who  would  have  remained  a  dunce  in  another,  simply  on 
account  of  the  difference  in  his  teachers,  so  a  people  may 
make  progress  under  one  set  of  institutions,  while  with 
another  set  they  would  remain  stationary. 

There  were  no  horses  upon  the  American  continent 
until  they  were  introduced  by  the  Europeans.  The 
horse,  we  are  told,  is  an  evolution,  and  perhaps  in  time 
might  have  been  evolved  in  America,  but  his  introduc- 


12  TUE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

tion  certainly  has  aided  the  development  of  the  country. 
Institutions,  likewise,  are  growths  and  not  creations  ;  but 
when  grown  they  bear  transplanting,  and  will  thrive  if 
the  soil  is  fertile  and  the  climate  genial.  Thus  trans- 
planted, they  become  most  important  factors  in  the  evo- 
lution of  society.* 

Before  considering  the  subject  of  American  institu- 
tions, there  is  one  English  institution  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, utterly  unknown  in  the  United  States,  to 
which  a  few  words  may  be  well  devoted.  This  is  the 
State  Church.  To  Americans  familiar  with  the  history 
and  literature  of  England,  this  subject  is  so  well  known 


*  Matthew  Arnold  was  one  of  the  English  scholars  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  undervalue  the  influence  of  institutions.  A  visit  to 
America  in  1884  modified  his  opinions.  Upon  returning  home  he 
wrote  as  follows :  "  I  suppose  I  am  not  by  nature  disi^osed  to  think 
so  much  as  most  people  do  of  institutions.  The  Americans  think 
and  talk  very  much  of  their  '  institutions.'  I  am  by  nature  inclined 
to  call  all  this  sort  of  thing  machinery,  and  to  regard  rather  men 
and  their  characters.  But  the  more  I  saw  of  America  the  more  I 
found  myself  led  to  treat  '  institutions '  with  increased  respect.  Un- 
til I  went  to  the  United  States,  I  had  never  seen  a  people  with  in- 
stitutions which  seemed  expressly  and  thoroughly  suited  to  it.  I 
had  not  properly  appreciated  the  benefits  proceeding  from  this 
cause."  —  "Last  Words  about  Anienca,'^''  Nineteenth  Century,  Feb., 
1885.  Matthew  Arnold,  before  coming  to  America,  did  not  appar- 
ently share  the  views  of  his  illustrious  father.  The  latter  says: 
"  The  immense  variety  of  history  makes  it  very  possible  for  differ- 
ent persons  to  study  it  with  different  objects.  But  the  great  object, 
as  I  cannot  but  think,  is  that  which  most  nearly  touclies  the  inner 
life  of  civilized  man — namely,  the  vicissitudes  of  institutions,  social, 
political,  and  religious." — "  Lectures  on  Modern  History,"  Lecture 
IIL  William  C.  Brownell,  in  his  "  French  Traits,"  has  an  instruc- 
tive chapter  on  Democracy,  in  which  he  shows  the  importance  at- 
tached by  Frenchmen  to  the  subject  of  institutions.  "  French 
Traits,"  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1889. 


THE    STATE    CHURCH    OF   ENGLAND  13 

that  many  persons  are  inclined  to  overlook  the  impor- 
tance of  such  an  establishment  in  one  country  and  of  its 
absence  from  the  other ;  and  yet  there  is  no  single  in- 
stitution in  England  which  in  the  last  three  centuries 
has  exerted  a  greater  influence  in  moulding  the  national 
character  and  in  shaping  the  national  thought  than  the 
Established  Church,  while  nothing,  perhaps,  has  been  so 
important  to  the  United  States  as  the  absence  of  this 
institution. 

In  England  the  Church  is  an  adjunct  of  the  State. 
It  is  supported  by  a  tax,  levied  on  every  one,  whether 
believing  in  its  doctrines  and  attending  its  services  or 
not.  Its  prelates  are  appointed  by  the  crown,  under 
the  form  of  an  election,  which  is,  however,  nothing  but 
a  form.  Its  ministers  are  not  selected  by  their  congre- 
gations, but  are  appointed  by  the  State,  or  by  private 
individuals  who  have  inherited  or  purchased  this  priv- 
ilege, and  who  may  be  atheists  or  pagans.  The  influ- 
ence of  this  organization,  as  shown  in  English  history, 
is  too  familiar  to  need  more  than  a  bare  suggestion. 
During  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  the  Stuarts  it  was 
little  but  the  handmaid  of  tyranny.  Ever  since  that 
time  it  has  been  the  consistent  opponent  of  almost  every 
reform.  This  is  natural  enough,  for  in  England  reforms 
have  always  been  forced  on  a  reluctant  State,  of  whose 
machinery  the  Church  has  formed  an  important  part. 
It  has  always  been  the  bulwark  of  the  aristocracy ;  so 
that  if  one  goes,  the  other  will  probably  go  with  it. 
This,  too,  is  natural  enough,  for  its  ministers  depend  for 
their  bread  upon  the  upper  classes.  Its  organization 
extends  over  every  square  mile  of  English  soil ;  its  rev- 
enues are  enormous  —  some  of  its  ministers  enjoying 
princely  incomes — and  yet  no  Protestant  Christian  body 
has  done  so  little,  in  comparison  with  its  wealth  and 


14  THE   rURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND  AMERICA 

numbers,  for  the  cause  of  religion  or  morality.*  In  late 
years  it  seems  in  some  quarters  to  have  developed  a  new 
spirit,  so  that  its  future  is  uncertain,  but  nothing  can 
change  the  record  of  the  past. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  question  whether 
in  all  these  matters  the  influence  of  the  State  Church 
of  England  has  been  well  or  ill  directed.  It  has  been 
claimed  that  it  is  an  evil  to  educate  the  common  people, 
or  give  them  too  much  religious  instruction.     Such  was 


*  "Writing  in  1850,  one  of  the  best  informed  of  English  observers 
said:  "  Here,  where  the  aristocracy  is  richer  and  more  powerful  than 
that  of  any  other  country  in  the  world,  the  poor  are  more  depressed, 
more  pauperized,  moi'e  numerous  in  comparison  to  the  other  classes, 
more  irreligious,  and  very  much  worse  educated  than  the  poor  of 
any  other  European  nation,  solely  excepting  Russia,  Turkey,  South 
Italy,  Portugal,  and  Spain." — "Kay's  Social  Condition  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,"  Amer.  ed.  p.  323.  If  any  reader  thinks  that  I  have  over- 
colored  any  statement  in  this  chapter  or  elsewhere,  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  poor  in  England,  I  ask  him  to  consult  this  book. 
Mr.  Joseph  Kay  was  sent  out  by  tlie  Senate  of  Cambridge  University 
to  examine  the  comparative  social  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  in 
the  different  countries  of  Europe.  In  1850  lie  gave  to  the  world  the 
results  of  liis  investigations,  extending  over  several  years,  in  a  work 
entitled  "The  Social  Condition  and  Education  of  the  People  of  Eng- 
land." Tlie  cliapters  on  England,  which  have  been  reprinted  sepa- 
rately in  tlie  United  States,  are  made  up  from  personal  observations 
and  official  reports,  and  give  evidence  of  an  earnest  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  author  to  impress  his  countrymen  with  the  gravity  of 
their  situation.  The  preface  to  the  American  edition  of  1863  well 
says  of  these  chapters :  "  They  are  a  warning  to  us,  and  hence  useful, 
althougli  abounding  in  facts  that  are  not  agreeable,  and  of  a  descrip- 
tion that  needs  to  be  read  only  by  men  who  have  duties  at  the  polls, 
and  tliose  few  women  who  take  an  active  part  in  raising  or  guard- 
ing our  various  institutions."  See  also  John  Foster's  essay  on 
"  Popular  Ignorance,"  and  Booth's  "  In  Darkest  England,"  published 
in  1890. 


THE    CUURCH   IN    AMERICA  15 

the  theory  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  successors.  It 
may  be  that  the  political  reforms  opposed  by  the  State 
Church  were  mistaken  measures  and  will  ultimately 
prove  disastrous.  It  may  have  been  wise  to  exclude 
Jews  and  Catholics  from  office,  and  to  prevent  any  one 
from  obtaining  a  liberal  education  at  the  great  universi- 
ties unless  he  professed  the  faith  of  the  State.  It  may 
be  that  a  better  class  of  ministers  is  obtained  under  the 
English  system  of  appointment,  where  the  office  is  said 
sometimes  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  than  under 
a  system  which  permits  the  congregations  to  select  their 
own  ministers.  All  these  claims  may  be  well  or  ill 
founded ;  the  S3^stem  may  be  the  best  or  the  worst  ever 
devised  by  man,  but  it  certainly  is  the  most  important  of 
English  institutions,  except,  perhaps,  the  aristocracy,  to 
which  it  is  allied,  and  it  is  unknoAvn  in  the  United  States. 
Several  of  the  American  colonies,  following  the  ex- 
ample of  England,  established  churches  supported  by 
the  State.  But  the  Revolution,  which  severed  the  re- 
lations between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country, 
soon  put  an  end  to  these  establishments.  Here  'New 
York  took  the  lead.  In  its  first  Constitution,  adopt- 
ed in  1777,  a  provision  was  inserted  repealing  and  ab- 
rogating all  such  parts  of  the  common  law  and  all 
such  statutes  as  could  "be  construed  to  establish  or 
maintain  any  particular  denomination  of  Christians 
or  their  ministers."  '^  Virginia  followed  in  1785,  and 
at  later  dates  all  the  other  old  states  in  which  the 
Church  had  been  established  did  the  same,  except  New 
Hampshire,  concluding  with  Connecticut  in  1818  and 
Massachusetts  in  1833.t     The  new  states  which  have 


*  Constitution  of  1777,  sec.  35. 

t  Scbaflf's  "  Churcli  and  State  in  tbe  United  States,"  p.  46.    Some 


16  THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

joined  the  Union  since  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution have,  without  exception,  followed  the  example 
of  New  York,  and  have  by  constitutional  provision  placed 
a  complete  separation  between  Church  and  State.* 

Here  then,  in  the  most  important  domain,  that  of  re- 
ligion, we  find  the  greatest  possible  difference  between  the 
two  countries,  a  difference  which  may  furnish  much  food 
for  thought  to  those  who  believe  that  America  has  Eng- 
lish institutions.  But  when  we  pass  to  political  matters, 
the  differences  are  no  less  important  and  far-reaching. 

Beginning  at  the  bottom,  we  find  that  our  whole  politi- 
cal system  is  founded  on  a  basis  entirely  different  from 
that  of  the  "  mother  country,"  The  theory  of  all  our  insti- 
tutions is  summed  up  in  the  words  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  "  All  men  are  created  equal."  This  has 
been  called  a  "  glittering  generality."  So  it  is,  and  so 
is  the  refulgent  atmosphere  in  which  we  live,  and  the 
crystal  ocean  which  girds  the  globe.  Yet  what  air  and 
water  are  to  man,  human  equality  is  to  the  life  of  the 
republic.  We  need  not  the  authority  of  Sir  Henry 
Maine  f  for  the  statement  that  this  doctrine  comes  from 
Roman  jurisprudence,  that  it  is  not  English,  and  that  it 
is  and  ever  has  been  unknown  to  English  law,  where 
the  members  of  the  noble  order  have  alwa^^s  enjoyed 
peculiar  privileges,  extending  even  to  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice. No  one  could  persuade  the  Queen  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  Empress  of  India  that  any  of  her  subjects  is  by 


of  the  colonies  had  no  established  Cliurch,  and  so  seemed  to  require 

no  constitutional  provision  upon  tlie  subject. 

*  See  Poore's  "  Charters  and  Constitutions  of  the  United  States." 
t  Maine's  "  Ancient  Law,"  p.  91.    "  All  men  are  equal,"  tlie  most 

distinctive  expression  of  the  doctrine  of  Roman  law.     "The  Early 

History  of  Institutions,"  Sir  Henry  Maine  (Henry  Holt,  New  York, 

1888),  p.  330. 


WRITTEN   CONSTITUTIONS   OF  AMERICA  17 

birth  her  equal.  Coming  down  the  list  to  the  pettiest 
baronet,  the  same  feeling  exists,  and  it  is  not  confined 
to  the  class  which  claims  superiority.  The  lower  orders, 
as  they  call  them — and  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most  demor- 
alizing feature  of  the  system — share  the  sentiment,  and 
look  up  to  an  earl  and  duke  as  a  good  Catholic  looks  up 
to  a  patron  saint.  So  strange  does  all  this  caste  spirit 
seem  to  an  American  that  it  is  almost  incomprehensible. 
It  is  one  of  the  last  things  which  travellers  appreciate, 
but  until  they  do  so  they  will  understand  little  of  the 
English  people,  their  institutions,  or  their  history.'^ 

Ascending  now  from  foundation  to  superstructure,  we 
find  as  radical  a  contrast.  The  United  States  and  all 
the  separate  states  have  written  constitutions.  The  im- 
portance of  these  formal  written  instruments  all  Amer- 
icans appreciate,  and  even  Englishmen  are  beginning  to 
see  their  value.  By  them  the  powers  of  government 
are  distributed  among  the  executive  and  legislative  de- 
partments, while  above  all  sits  the  judiciary,  not  only 
to  keep  each  department  to  its  proper  functions,  but  also 
to  guard  the  rights  of  each  individual  citizen  or  stran- 
ger. These  constitutions  represent  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple, are  superior  to  all  congresses  or  legislatures,  and  can 
only  be  altered  by  the  people,  in  such  modes,  as  to  time 
and  majorities,  as  guarantee  deliberation  and  a  w^ide- 
spread  settled  feeling  of  a  necessity  for  change.f 


*  See  "Aristocracy  in  England,"  by  Adam  Badeau,  1886,  for  a 
full  study  of  this  subject;  Taine's  "Notes  on  England;"  Emerson's 
"English  Traits,"  pp.  185,  305,  ed.  1857.  Says  Matthew  Arnold, 
"  Inequality  is  our  bane.  *  *  *  Aristocracy  now  sets  up  in  our  country 
a  false  ideal,  which  materializes  our  upper  class,  vulgarizes  our  mid- 
dle class,  brutalizes  our  lower  class."  —  Nineteenth  Century^  Feb., 
1885,  p.  233. 

t  No  change  can  be  made  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
.1.-2 


18  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

Of  all  this  England  knows  nothing.  Its  so-called  Con- 
stitution is  a  thing  of  tradition,  sentiment,  theory,  ab- 
straction, anything  except  organic,  supreme,  settled  law. 
What  is  constitutional  to-day,  to-morrow  may  become 
unconstitutional  by  the  mere  fiat  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, which,  it  has  been  said,  can  do  anything  except 
make  a  man  a  woman,  or  a  woman  a  man.  The  courts 
construe  the  laws,  but  can  neither  protect  one  depart- 
ment of  the  government  against  another,  nor  the  indi- 
vidual against  the  tyranny  of  the  majority.* 


States  until  proposed  by  two  thirds  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  and 
ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  states.  In  New 
York  a  constitutional  amendment  has  to  pass  through  two  legisla- 
tures, and  then  be  ratified  by  a  popular  vote. 

*  "Parliament  is,  from  a  merely  legal  point  of  view,  the  absolute 
sovereign  of  the  Britisli  Empire." — "The  Law  of  the  Constitution," 
Dicey,  p.  354.  "In  spite  of  appearances,"  said  Mr.  Frederic  Harri- 
son, on  the  1st  of  January,  1886,  "  and  conventional  formulas,  habits, 
and  fictions  to  the  contrary,  the  House  of  Commons  represents  the 
most  absolute  autocracy  ever  set  up  by  a  great  government  since 
the  French  Revolution.  Government  here  is  now  simply  a  commit- 
tee of  that  huge  democratic  club,  the  House  of  Commons,  without 
any  of  the  reserves  of  power  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Constitution 
which  are  found  in  the  constitutions  of  France  and  America." 
Quoted  in  "French  and  English,"  by  Hamerton,  Atlantic  Monthly, 
Sept.,  1886,  p.  321.  "  The  Constitution,  being  unwritten,  provides  no 
special  safeguard  against  revolutionary  reforms  like  those  in  Amer- 
ica and  France." — Idem,  p.  324.  Says  another  recent  English  writer: 
"  Our  glorious  Constitution,  reduced  to  its  simplest  elements,  con- 
sists merely  of  one  unwritten  article.  If  it  were  written,  it  would 
run :  '  Tiie  majority  of  the  English  electoral  body,  having  proved 
themselves  to  be  a  majority  after  a  fierce  electoral  fight,  in  which 
every  personal  ambition,  every  selfish  interest,  and  every  malignant 
passion  has  been  let  loose,  may  do  exactly  what  they  like,  without 
let  or  hindrance,  with  the  organization  of  English  society  and  with  the 
resources  of  the  British  Empire.'  ^^ —National  Review,  Sept.,  1886,  p. 65. 


THE   EXECUTIVE   IN   ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  19 

Here  is  a  fundamental  difference  at  the  outset.  'Now 
let  us  look  at  particulars.  The  United  States  has  a  real 
executive,  who  is  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies,  ap- 
points judges  and  subordinate  executive  officers  with  the 
approval  of  the  Senate,  has  a  substantial  veto  power,  and 
holds  office  by  election  for  a  fixed  term.  England  has 
two  executives:  one  an  hereditary  figure-head,  who  holds 
levees,  lays  corner-stones,  and  leads,  or  is  supposed  to 
lead,  society,  being  the  supreme  arbiter  in  questions  of 
official  etiquette ;  the  other  is  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  called  a  Cabinet,  which  exercises  all  real 
executive  power,  although  unauthorized  by  statute,  with- 
out any  check  on  its  authority,  but  also  without  any 
settled  term  of  office,  being  subject  to  be  swept  away  at 
any  moment  by  a  gust  of  popular  passion. 

Each  country  has  two  legislative  houses,  but  the  re- 
semblance goes  no  further.  The  upper  house  in  Eng- 
land, in  which  members  keep  their  seats  for  life,  simply 
represents  the  aristocracy,  which  means  land,  and  the 
Church,  which  means  religious  caste  in  politics.  In  the 
United  States  the  Senate  represents  the  separate  states, 
each  one,  large  or  small,  having  an  equal  voice,  while 
one  third  of  its  members  changes  each  two  years.  In 
England  the  upper  house  has  no  substantive  power,  ex- 
cept that  of  obstruction,  fitfully  and  feebly  exercised 
under  the  terror  of  annihilation.  In  the  United  States 
the  Senate  is  a  real  body  with  authority,  helping  to 
make  laws  and  serving  as  a  check  on  the  executive.  Its 
confirmation  is  necessary  to  the  appointment  of  judges 
and  all  executive  officers,  except  those  of  the  lowest 
class,  while  no  treaty  is  valid  without  its  approbation. 
Again,  it  must  unite  with  the  House  of  Eepresentatives, 
before  the  President  can  make  war  or  peace.  ls"one  of 
these  powers  belong  to  the  House  of  Lords.     They  are 


20  THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,    AND  AMERICA 

all  exercised  by  the  Cabinet,  a  committee  which  is  re- 
sponsible only  to  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  N'o  wonder  that  Lord  Salisbury 
said,  in  a  recent  speech  :  "  The  Americans,  as  you  know, 
have  a  Senate.  I  wish  we  could  institute  it  in  this 
countr}^.     Marvellous  in  efficiency  and  strength."  * 

Our  House  of  Eepresentatives  is  composed  of  members 
elected  for  two  years,  all  of  whom  are  paid.  In  England 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  receive  no  sal- 
aries, so  that,  unless  supported,  as  in  the  case  of  some 
Irish  members,  by  voluntary  contributions,  only  the  rich 
are  reaUy  eligible  to  office;  and  they  may  serve  for  a  week 
or  seven  years,  as  the  Cabinet  shall  determine,  since  it 
may  order  a  new  election  at  any  time. 

Above  all,  in  America,  as  I  have  said,  above  Presi- 
dent, Senate,  and  House  of  Eepresentatives  sits  the  Su- 
preme Court  to  see  that  the  Constitution,  the  ultimate 
organic  will  of  the  people,  is  preserved  intact.  Its  judges 
are  appointed  by  the  President  and  confirmed  by  the 
Senate,  but  they  hold  office  for  life  or  good  behavior.f 


*  Of  it  Matthew  Arnold  remarks:  "The  United  States  Senate  is 
perhaps  of  all  the  institutions  of  that  country  the  most  happily  de- 
vised, the  most  successful  in  its  workings."  Goldwin  Smith  describes 
it  as  "  first  in  average  intelligence  among  all  the  political  assemblies 
in  the  world."     Nineteenth  Century,  June,  1888,  p.  889. 

t  Lord  Salisbury,  in  a  speech  at  Edinburgh  on  Nov.  23d,  1882, 
thus  describes  it:  "I  confess  I  do  not  often  envy  the  United  States, 
but  there  is  one  feature  in  tlieir  institutions  which  appears  to  me 
the  subject  of  the  greatest  envy,  their  magnificent  institution  of  a 
Supreme  Court.  In  the  United  States,  if  Parliament  passes  any 
measure  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  there  ex- 
ists a  court  which  will  negative  it  at  once,  and  that  gives  a  stability 
to  the  institutions  of  the  country  which,  under  the  system  of  vague 
and  mysterious  promises  here,  we  look  for  in  vain."  Quoted  "  Car- 
negie's Triumphant  Democracy,"  p.  369.     Lord  Salisbury  evidently 


ENGLISHMEN   STUDY  AMERICAN   INSTITUTIONS  21 

These  features  make  up  the  peculiarities  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federal  system  and  differentiate  it  from  other  forms 
of  government.  All  nations  have  an  executive  of  some 
kind,  most  of  them  have  judges  and  legislative  bodies, 
so  that  in  these  general  outlines  there  is  nothing  on 
which  to  base  a  theory  of  English  origin.  The  question 
is  whether  our  peculiar  institutions,  those  distinctive  of 
America,  are  derived  from  the  "mother  country."  Of 
course.  Englishmen  knew  nothing  about  the  peculiari- 
ties of  our  Constitution,  until,  within  the  past  few  years, 
when  they  saw  America  looming  up  as  an  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  rival.  Then  a  few  of  them  began  to 
look  across  the  sea.  Still  later,  greater  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  subject  by  Ireland's  demand  for  Home 
Eule,  based  on  something  like  the  relations  of  our  states 
to  the  general  government. 

Assuming  that  our  Federal  institutions  are  English, 
it  is  quite  remarkable  to  see  how  unfamiliar  they  appear 
to  the  statesmen  and  writers  of  their  home,  now  that  at 
length  they  have  attracted  notice.  How  a  Tory  Prime 
Minister  regards  the  more  important  ones  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  Mr.  Gladstone  goes  even  further  and  says  : 
"  The  American  Constitution  is,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  the 
most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by 
the  brain  and  purpose  of  man."  * 


did  not  know  liow  constitutional  questions  are  brought  before  our 
Supreme  Court;  but  had  he  known,  his  admiration  probaWy  would 
have  been  increased. 

*  Dicey,  a  writer  on  the  English  Constitution,  says :  "  The  plain 
truth  is,  that  educated  Englishmen  are  slowly  learning  that  the  Amer- 
ican Eepublic  affords  the  best  example  of  a  conservative  democracy; 
and,  now  that  England  is  becoming  democratic,  respectable  English- 
men are  beginning  to  consider  whether  the  Constitution  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  may  not  afford  means  by  which,  under  new  democratic 


22  THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Enorlisli  writers  who  have  looked  into  the  institutions 
of  America  have  naturally  had  their  attention  drawn  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  deals  only 
with  national  affairs.  Seeing  this  instrument  in  all  its 
completeness,  and  knowing  little  of  the  prior  history  of 
the  separate  states,  they  seem  to  conclude,  as  Mr,  Glad- 
stone did,  that  it  was  struck  off  in  1787  by  the  brains  of 
the  few  men  who  formed  the  convention  at  which  it  was 
put  in  shape.  Their  work  was  a  great  one,  but  the 
American  knows  that  the  United  States  had  been  living 
under  state  constitutions  for  over  ten  years  prior  to  the 
Union,  and  that  many  of  the  salient  features  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  were  not  novel.  For  their  history 
and  origin  we  must  go  far  back  of  the  immortal  conven- 
tion of  1787. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted  in 
1787,  but  eleven  years  before  that  date  the  Federal  Con- 
gress recommended  to  the  thirteen  colonies  that  they 
should  proceed  to  form  separate  state  constitutions.  This 
was  done  by  all  of  the  thirteen,  except  Ehode  Island  and 
Connecticut,  which  preferred,  for  many  years,  to  live 
under  the  form  of  government  established  by  their  co- 
lonial charters.  To  any  one  who  desires  to  study  the 
character  and  the  development  of  American  institutions 
these  state  constitutions,  with  their  subsequent  amend- 
ments, are,  in  some  respects,  much  more  important  than 
the  Federal  Constitution.     All  of  them  have  been  mate- 


powers,  maybe  preserved  the  political  conservatism  dear  and  habit- 
ual to  the  governing  class  of  England."  These  are  the  opinions  of 
leading  Englishmen,  and  they  miglit  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  See 
Carnegie's  "Triumphant  Democracy,"  p.  501,  etc.  I  wish  here  to 
make  a  general  acknowledgment  of  the  liberal  use  made  of  the 
valuable  facts  relating  to  this  subject,  and  to  some  others,  collected 
by  Mr.  Carnegie. 


STATE    CONSTITUTIONS  23 

rially  modified  since  their  first  adoption ;  in  some  the 
changes  have  been  revolutionary,  in  all  the  tendency  of 
the  changes  has  been  towards  a  common  form  approach- 
ing a  democratic  model. 

At  the  outset,  however,  the  contrast  between  their 
different  provisions  was  very  marked.  The  original  in- 
struments were  framed  by  bodies  of  men  of  different 
nationalities,  living  at  great  distances  apart  from  each 
other,  and  with  varying  views,  the  results  of  study,  ex- 
perience, or  inherited  traits  of  character,  as  to  the  form 
of  government  and  as  to  the  institutions  which  were  best 
fitted  to  their  respective  wants.  Some  provided  for  a 
State  Church  as  in  England,  others  prohibited  its  estab- 
lishment ;  some  gave  religious  liberty  to  all,  others  re- 
stricted it  to  Protestant  believers  in  the  Bible ;  some  pro- 
vided for  voting  by  ballot,  others  for  the  English  system 
of  voting  viva  voce  ;  some  provided  for  two  legislative 
houses,  others  for  only  one ;  some  gave  the  governors 
great  power,  others  hampered  them  with  councils ;  some 
carried  provisions  for  the  freedom  of  the  press  beyond 
anything  ever  known  in  England,  others  were  satisfied 
with  English  guarantees ;  some  abolished  primogeniture, 
others  retained  it  undisturbed ;  some  provided  for  free 
schools,  others  left  that  subject  to  the  Legislature ;  some 
gave  to  prisoners  accused  of  crime  the  privilege  of  ap- 
pearing by  counsel,  others  remitted  them  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  common  law" ;  some  denounced  the  san- 
guinary criminal  code  of  England,  others  made  no  allu- 
sion to  the  subject. 

These  are  but  specimens  of  provisions  in  the  original 
state  constitutions,  which  show  how  divergent  were  the 
views  of  the  men  who  framed  these  instruments  upon 
many  subjects  of  the  first  importance.  Some  of  these 
provisions,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  were  incorporated 


24         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

into  the  Federal  Constitution,  but  others,  having  no  re- 
lation to  national  affairs,  have  been  left  to  bear  fruit  in 
different  circles.  But  even  these  constitutions  form  but 
a  small  part  of  the  evidence  to  be  examined  by  one 
who  wishes  to  discover  the  origin  of  American  institu- 
tions. Back  of  them  will  be  found  a  body  of  laws  and 
customs,  many  of  them  entirely  un-English  in  their  char- 
acter, which,  for  more  than  a  century  before  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  moulded  the  character  of  the 
people  who  then  became  a  nation. 

If  historians  had  devoted  to  the  investigation  of  these 
subjects  one  tithe  of  the  labor  which  has  been  given  to 
tracing  the  influence  of  the  Celts,  the  Eomans,  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  or  the  Kormans  on  Great  Britain,  we 
should  hear  little  of  the  surprise  now  expressed  at  the 
fact  that  America  differs  so  much  from  the  mother 
country. 

Eeturning  now  to  our  general  subject,  and  passing 
from  those  matters  of  organization  which  relate  par- 
ticularly to  the  structure  and  machinery  of  the  general 
government,  let  us  glance  at  a  broader  field  and  con- 
sider some  more  important  institutions,  which  may  be 
likened  to  the  material  of  which  the  building  is  con- 
structed. It  will  hardly  be  disputed  that  the  laws  and 
customs  which,  after  those  establishing  religious  and 
political  equality,  are  most  distinctive  in  the  American 
system  relate  to  the  ownership  of  land,  popular  edu- 
cation, and  local  self-government.  The  relative  impor- 
tance of  these  three  subjects  may  be  questioned  by  dif- 
ferent thinkers,  but  probably  all  will  agree  as  to  their 
combined  influence.  Taking  them  up  in  the  order 
named,  the  question  at  present  to  be  considered  is  how 
far  America  has,  in  these  matters,  patterned  after  Eng- 
land. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    LAND   IN   ENGLAND  25 

First,  then,  as  to  land.*  In  England  about  half  of  the 
land  is  owned  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons.  In 
Scotland  half  is  owned  by  some  seventy-five  persons, 
while  thirty-five  own  half  of  Ireland.  Taking  all  Great 
Britain  together,  about  four  fifths  of  the  profitable  soil 
is  owned  by  seven  thousand  individuals,  and  the  other 
fifth  by  about  one  hundred  thousand.f  All  the  land  of 
the  United  Kingdom  amounts  to  about  77,000,000  acres ; 
of  these  some  46,000,000  are  under  cultivation,  and  the 
remainder  is  unproductive.  Yet  Great  Britain  imports 
half  of  her  grain,  while  about  one  twentieth  of  her  popu- 
lation, are  paupers.:}:  Were  the  great  parks  which  are  now 
kept  for  purposes  of  luxury  or  mere  ostentation,  and  the 
vast  uncultivated  wastes  which  now  only  preserve  game 
or  serve  as  sheep  pastures,  divided  up  among  little  pro- 
prietors who  would  make  every  rood  of  ground  available, 
England  would  hear  much  less  of  her  labor  question. 
As  it  is,  however,  everything  for  centuries  has  tended  in 
the  opposite  direction. 

First  stands  the  law  of  primogeniture,  under  which,  in 
case  of  intestacy,  all  the  real  estate  goes  to  the  oldest 


*  "The  fact  is,"  says  a  writer  in  tlie  British  Quarterly  Eeview, 
"that  the  mode  in  whicli  property,  and  especially  land,  is  distributed 
has  the  chief  influence  in  detennining  the  political  and  social  char- 
acter of  the  people."  Again  he  remarks :  "  Indeed,  it  may  almost  be 
said  that  land  and  aristocracy  are  in  England  convertible  terms." 
British  Quarterly  Review,  April,  1886,  p.  279. 

t"Free  Land,"  by  Arthur  Arnold  (1880),  cited  Gneist's  "His- 
tory of  the  Englisli  Constitution,"  transl.  London,  1886,  ii.  376; 
also  "France  and  Hereditary  Monarchy,"  by  John  Bigelow,  1871, 
p.  53. 

X  "  Our  National  Resources,  and  How  they  are  "Wasted,"  William 
Hoyle,  pp.  40,  43;  "Home  Politics,"  Daniel  Grant,  p.  8,  quoted  by 
Bigelow,  pp.  31-35 ;  "  In  Darkest  England,"  by  William  Booth. 


26         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

male  heir,  thus  building  up  great  families,  l^ext  stands 
the  system  relating  to  the  transfer  of  land  among  the 
living,  which  clogs  its  alienation  and  renders  its  purchase 
by  the  poor  almost  impossible. 

Every  American  knows  how  simple  is  our  system  of 
recording  deeds  and  mortgages.  Under  it,  in  ordinary- 
cases,  any  man  of  average  intelligence  can  search  his  own 
title  and  make  out  his  own  conveyance,  or  can  have  it 
done  in  the  country  for  about  five  dollars ;  for,  unless  a 
deed  or  mortgage  is  recorded  in  the  proper  office  of  the 
county,  it  is  of  no  avail  against  the  later  hona-Jide  in- 
strument of  an  innocent  party  duly  put  on  record.  In 
England,  except  in  some  small  sections  of  the  country 
where  this  system  has  been  latel}'^  introduced,  nothing  of 
this  kind  exists.  All  title-deeds  are  kept  by  the  owner ; 
and  unless  a  careful  examination  is  made  by  a  lawyer, 
there  is  no  security  for  a  purchaser  whatever.  In  no 
other  civilized  country  of  the  world  do  sales  and  mort- 
gages of  land  habitually  take  so  long  a  time  to  transact, 
and  nowhere  else  are  the  charges  in  the  case  of  small 
properties  so  great.* 

Time  and  time  again,  from  the  days  of  Cromwell 
down,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  introduce  the 
recording  system  which  prevails  in  the  United  States 
and  in  most  of  the  countries  of  the  Continent,  but  al- 
ways without  success.  Parliamentary  committees  have 
recommended  it,  upon  the  ground  that  it  would  give  in- 
creased security,  and  facilitate,  by  cheapening,  the  trans- 
fer of  land.  But  there  lay  potent  reasons  for  its  rejec- 
tion. The  large  proprietors,  representing  the  aristocratic 
element  of  society,  have  desired  that  the  mode  of  acquir- 


*  Westminster  Review^  July,  1886,  p.  80.     The  lowest  legal  charge 
is  about  thirty  dollars. 


ENCLOSURE    OF   ENGLISH    COMMON    LANDS  27 

ing  land  should  be  neither  easy  nor  cheap.  Land  is  for 
aristocrats,  and  not  for  the  common  people.  The  result 
is  that  the  great  class  of  yeomen,  the  men  who  in  by- 
gone centuries  gave  England  her  greatness,  has  almost 
entirely  disappeared.'-^  In  its  place  has  grown  up  a  race 
of  peasants,  well-nigh  the  most  ignorant  and  brutalized 
among  the  so-called  civilized  peoples  of  the  globe. 

Not  content  with  refusing  to  sell  land  to  the  poor,  and 
making  its  transfer  difficult  and  expensive,  the  ruling 
classes  have  gone  one  step  further.  Formerly  a  large 
part  of  the  soil  of  England  was  owned  in  common,  each 
village  or  community  holding  its  great  tract  open  to  all 
the  inhabitants  for  purposes  of  pasturage.  But  since 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  9,000,000  acres  of 
these  common  lands,  more  than  one  eighth  of  the  whole 
soil  of  Great  Britain,  have  been  taken  possession  of  by 
private  individuals  and  enclosed  under  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment.f  It  was  in  reference  to  this  wholesale  robbery 
of  the  poor  that  the  well-known  lines  were  written : 

"  The  law  locks  up  the  man  or  woman 
Who  steals  the  goose  from  off  the  common, 
But  lets  the  greater  villain  loose 
Who  steals  the  common  off  the  goose." 

In  view  of  these  facts,  we  can  appreciate  the  words  of 
one  of  England's  keenest  observers  in  speaking  of  the 
kaleidoscopic  constitutions  of  France  :  "  It  does  not  re- 
quire any  special  clearness  of  vision  to  perceive  that  so 
far  from  having  closed  the  era  of  great  changes.  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  have  only  entered  on  it," :{: 


*  "  Pauperism,  its  Causes  and  Remedies,"  Prof.  Fawcett,  p.  208. 

i-  Prof  Thorold  Rogers,  Time,  March,  1890. 

X  Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton,  Atlantic  Monthly,  Sept.,  1886,  p.  323. 


28        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

One  of  these  days  England  may  awake  to  reap  the 
whirlwind.  She  is  now  the  only  Teutonic  nation,  and 
perhaps  the  only  civilized  society  in  existence,  in  which 
the  bulk  of  the  land  under  cultivation  is  not  owned  by 
small  proprietors.*  To  her  laboring  classes  she  is  giv- 
ing not  land,  but  the  spelling-book  and  the  ballot. 
Speaking  of  the  arms  of  a  slave  state,  which  represented 
a  negro  asleep  upon  a  cotton  bale,  "Wendell  Phillips 
once  asked,  "But  what  will  the  people  do  when  the  negro 
wakes  up  ?"  Our  cousins  across  the  sea  can  take  a  simi- 
lar question  to  heart.  From  time  to  time  the  English 
public  are  aroused  to  an  appreciation  of  the  filth  and 
misery  which  pervade  the  dwellings  of  their  poor.  Then 
men  rush  into  print  with  their  various  nostrums,  emi- 
gration, vast  schemes  of  private  benevolence,  new  models 
for  cottages,  and  the  like ;  but  it  seldom  occurs  to  any  of 
them  to  suggest  a  change  in  their  land  laws  by  which 
the  poor  man  might  own  his  dwelling.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, is  so  conducive  to  the  self-respect,  without  which 
all  sanitary  regulations  are  powerless,  as  the  possession 
of  one's  habitation.f 

Turn  now  from  England  to  America,  and  what  a  dif- 


See  also  Gneist,  "  Hist,  of  English  Constitution,"  ii.  452.  Matthew 
Arnold  says  of  the  nobility  and  the  property  question  :  "  One  would 
wish,  if  one  sets  about  wishing,  for  the  extinction  of  titles  after 
the  death  of  tlie  holders,  and  for  the  dispersion  of  property  by  a 
stringent  law  of  bequest." — Nineteenth  Century,  Feb.,  1885,  p.  234. 

*  British  Quarterly  Bevieic,  April,  1886. 

t  "The  large  domains  are  growing  larger;  the  great  estates  are 
absorbing  the  small  freeholds.  In  1786,  the  soil  of  England  was 
owned  by  250,000  corporations  and  proprietors." — Emerson's  "  Eng- 
lish Traits,"  p.  184.  A  century  earlier  the  number  of  those  who  farmed 
their  own  land  was  greater  than  the  number  of  those  who  farmed 
the  land  of  others.     Macaulay,  vol.  i.  chap.  iii. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   LAND    IN  AMERICA  29 

ferent  picture  is  presented!  The  census  of  1880  shows 
that  the  farms  in  the  United  States  number  over  four 
millions,  of  which  only  about  twenty-five  thousand  con- 
tain more  than  a  thousand  acres.  Of  the  whole  number 
nearly  three  fourths  are  worked  by  the  owners,  and  of 
the  remainder,  the  larger  part  are  worked  on  shares. 
In  1850,  before  slavery  was  abolished,  the  farms  num- 
bered only  about  a  million  and  a  half,  and  they  averaged 
two  hundred  and  three  acres  each.  In  1880,  the  average 
had  sunk  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  acres,  so  that 
while  the  amount  of  cultivated  land  is  largely  on  the 
increase,  the  process  of  subdivision  is  still  more  rapid. 
Practical  experience  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  shows 
that  small  tracts  of  land  are  worked  more  economically 
than  large  ones,  and  are  most  productive  when  cultivated 
by  the  owner.  The  above  figures  take  no  account  of 
mere  city  or  village  lots  for  building  purposes.  The 
number  of  these  is  very  large,  for,  as  the  American 
knows,  the  laborer,  except  in  the  large  cities,  usually 
owns  his  own  dwelling,  and  thus  is  a  proprietor  of  the 
soil.  The  ownership  of  land  always  makes  a  man  con- 
servative. When  it  is  generally  divided,  as  in  the  Unit- 
ed States,  and  where,  under  a  liberal  Homestead  Law, 
any  one  can  obtain  a  farm  by  actually  putting  it  under 
cultivation,  there  will  be  found  little  room  for  theories 
of  spoliation.* 

*  The  census  of  1890  shows  only  about  73,000  paupers  in  the  poor- 
houses  of  the  United  States,  out  of  a  population  of  over  62,000,000, 
a  rehxtive  decrease  since  1880.  About  6000  of  those  are  colored,  and 
of  tlie  whites  tliree  fifths  are  foreign-born  or  of  foreign  parentage. 
Of  the  poor  permanently  supported  in  their  own  houses  or  in  pri- 
vate families,  only  some  24,000  are  given,  but  in  this  case  the  returns 
do  not  pretend  to  even  approximate  correctness.  Census  Bulletin 
No.  90,  July  8, 1891. 


30  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

Such  is  the  difference  between  England  and  America 
as  to  the  distribution  of  land.  Speaking  of  this  subject, 
Daniel  Webster  summed  up  the  case  in  his  great  speech 
at  Plymouth,  when  he  said  of  the  ISTew  England  settlers 
that  "the  character  of  their  political  institutions  was 
determined  by  the  fundamental  laws  respecting  prop- 
erty." These  laws,  he  said,  provided  for  the  equal 
division  of  the  estate  of  an  intestate  among  his  children, 
while  the  establishment  of  public  registration  and  the 
simplicity  of  our  forms  of  conveyance  have  facilitated 
the  change  of  real  estate  among  the  living. 

Next  comes  the  subject  of  popular  education.  This 
is,  perhaps,  more  important  than  any  question  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  property.  "  Give  light,  and  the  darkness 
will  dispel  itself."  Give  education,  and  everything  else 
will  right  itself  in  time.  Still,  some  of  the  nations  of 
the  Old  World  may  discover  to  their  cost  that  unless 
other  reforms  go  with  the  education  of  the  masses,  the 
righting  process  will  seem  like  the  first  breaking  of  light 
over  chaos. 

The  history  of  popular  education  in  America  is  a 
familiar  story.  All  the  early  settlers  of  'New  England 
paid  great  attention  to  instructing  their  children ;  first 
at  home,  or  in  the  ministers'  houses,  and  then  in  public 
schools.  In  164Y,  the  Massachusetts  Colony  passed  a 
law  providing  that  every  township  of  fifty  household- 
ers should  appoint  a  schoolmaster  to  teach  the  chil- 
dren to  read  and  write ;  and  that  his  wages  should  be 
paid  by  the  parents,  or  the  public  at  large,  according 
to  the  decision  of  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants.  By 
1665,  every  town  in  Massachusetts  had  a  common  school, 
and,  if  it  contained  over  one  hundred  inhabitants,  a  gram- 
mar school.  The  other  New  England  colonies  followed 
in  the  wake  of  Massachusetts.     In  Connecticut  every 


POPULAR   EDUCATION   IN    AMERICA  31 

town  that  did  not  keep  a  school  for  three  months  in  the 
year  was  hable  to  a  fine.  Meantime  the  Dutch  had  es- 
tabhshed  free  schools  in  New  York.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  educational  system  of  the  United  States. 

When  the  Puritan  spirit  began  to  decline  there  was  a 
f  alling-off  in  the  schools  and  an  increase  of  illiteracy ;  but 
the  love  of  learning  never  died  out,  and  the  free  schools 
never  were  abandoned.  At  the  close  of  the  Revolution 
there  was  donated  to  the  Union  the  vast  domain  north 
of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  New 
York  leading  off  in  this  generous  cession.*  In  1785,  Con- 
gress passed  an  act  reserving  for  educational  purposes 
the  sixteenth  section  of  each  township  in  this  public  ter- 
ritory. The  policy  then  established  has  been  followed 
in  regard  to  all  subsequent  acquisitions,  and  in  1858  an 
additional  section  was  granted  by  the  government.f  Up 
to  the  present  time  these  grants  aggregate  over  seventy- 
eight  million  acres,  a  territory  larger  than  the  whole  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  combined.  In  1880,  the  United 
States  spent  eighty-tw^o  and  a  half  million  dollars  on  her 
common  public  schools,  which  were  estimated  to  number 
one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  thousand,  and  in  1889 
the  expenditure  had  risen  to  over  a  hundred  and  thirty 
millions,  while  the  schools  had  increased  to  two  hundred 
and  sixteen  thousand.  The  census  of  1880  showed  that 
in  the  Northern  States  only  five  per  cent,  of  the  native 
population  were  unable  to  read  and  write. 

Now,  does  any  one  imagine  that  America  is  indebted 
to  England  for  its  free-school  system  or  general  scheme 


*  Magazine  of  American  History,  March,  1888,  p.  200. 

t  Eacli  township  contains  thirty-six  sections,  one  mile  square. 
The  allotment  for  educational  purposes  is  therefore,  since  1858,  one 
ei"-hteeuth  of  the  national  domain.    Census  Bulletin  No.  53, 1891. 


33         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND  AMERICA 

for  the  education  of  the  masses?  Let  us  see.  While 
New  York  was  settled  by  Hollanders,  and  New  England, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  largely  by  Puritans  from  Eng- 
land tinctured  with  Dutch  ideas,  Virginia  had  a  differ- 
ent class  of  colonists.  It  is  absurd  to  speak  of  them  as 
of  a  better  blood  than  the  settlers  in  the  North,  for  the 
latter  came  of  the  best  old  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  and  they 
were  made  up  of  the  most  intelligent  as  well  as  the  most 
sturdy  and  virtuous  of  their  race.  But  Virginia  was  set- 
tled from  a  different  class  of  the  community.  Her  col- 
onists, when  not  convicts  or  indented  servants,  were 
mostly  average  Englishmen  of  the  Established  Church, 
and,  like  the  average  Englishmen,  opposed  to  all  innova- 
tions in  Church  or  State.  So  it  came  about  that,  in  1671, 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  could 
write  to  England :  "  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free 
schools  or  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them 
these  hundred  years.  For  learning  has  brought  heresy, 
and  disobedience,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing 
has  divulged  them,  and  libels  against  the  best  govern- 
ment. God  keep  us  from  both !"  There  spoke  simply  the 
typical  English  Tory,  and  the  type  was  to  remain  un- 
changed in  England  for  two  hundred  years  to  come. 

Now  turn  to  the  mother  country  itself,  and  look  at 
her  record.  During  the  re'gn  of  Edward  VI.,  some 
grammar  schools  —  w^e  should  now,  perhaps,  call  them 
Latin  or  high  schools — eighteen  for  the  whole  kingdom, 
were  established  by  the  reformers  of  his  government. 
At  various  times  a  few  more  were  added  by  private  in- 
dividuals. One  of  these  rare  schools,  founded  at  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon  by  a  native  of  that  town  w^ho  had  gone 
up  to  London  and  become  Lord  Mayor,  bore  the  name 
of  William  Shakespeare  on  its  rolls.  But  for  the  good 
fortune  of  his  townsman  he  might  have  died  mute  and 


POPULAR  EDUCATION  IN  ENGLAND  33 

inglorious.  These  were  purely  charitable  institutions 
where  learning,  such  as  it  was,  was  doled  out  as  an  alms. 
The  government  did  nothing  further  in  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation for  nearly  three  centuries,  until  the  year  1832, 
when  Parliament  made  for  this  object  the  munificent 
appropriation  of  twenty  thousand  pounds.  This  was  the 
first  recognition  in  England  of  the  principle  that  the 
State  owes  any  duty  to  its  children.  In  1839,  the  annual 
grant  was  raised  to  thirty  thousand,  and  then  was  in- 
creased  from  time  to  time  until  1869,  when  it  amounted 
to  half  a  million  pounds,  about  one  fifth  as  much  as  the 
sum  spent  annually  by  the  State  of  ISTew  York  alone. 
This  money  was  used  not  to  found  or  support  free 
schools,  but  to  aid  those  of  a  voluntary  character.  At 
these  state-aided  schools  about  one  million  three  hun- 
dred thousand  children  were  instructed,  two  millions 
more  were  receiving  no  education  at  all,  and  another 
million  were  being  taught  at  private  adventure  schools, 
where  the  education  was  of  the  most  defective  character.* 
The  English  governing  classes  seem  until  a  very  re- 
cent date  to  have  felt  the  same  reluctance  to  educating 
the  working  people  that  they  still  feel  to  giving  them 
land.  Keep  a  man  landless,  and  you  make  him  depend- 
ent ;  keep  him  in  ignorance,  and  you  make  him  subservi- 
ent. It  was  urged  in  England,  and  the  argument  has 
been  heard  in  America,  that  if  all  classes  are  educated 
the  rich  cannot  secure  good  servants,  and  that  hired  la- 
borers will  be  discontented  with  their  lot.  This  is  all 
very  well  for  the  masters,  but  how  about  the  servants  ? 
America  does  not  believe  that  the  English  lackey,  much 
as  he  contributes  to  one's  comfort,  is  the  type  of  man- 


*  "  Fifteen  Years  of  National  Education  in  England,"  Weitminater 
Review,  Oct.,  1886. 
I.— 3 


34        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

hood  that  civilization  is  intended  to  develop,  and  it  has 
found  from  practical  experience  that  a  farm  -  laborer 
works  no  worse  because  he  looks  forward  to  being  a 
proprietor  himself. 

In  1870,  England,  for  the  first  time,  entered  upon  a 
system  of  national  education  by  establishing  common 
schools  for  the  masses.  Since  that  time  great  progress 
has  been  made,  although  the  education  is  yet  defective, 
is  of  only  an  elementary  character,  and  not  wholly  free.* 

In  view  of  the  state  of  education  in  England  at  that 
time,  we  can  appreciate  the  surprise  felt  by  Charles 
Dickens  when,  in  1842,  he  visited  the  manufacturing 
town  of  Lowell,  in  Massachusetts.     Upon  his  return 


*  In  1886,  Mattliew  Arnold  made  a  report  to  the  Educational 
Department  of  England  on  the  elementary  schools  of  the  Continent, 
which  he  had  examined  in  an  official  capacity.  Strangely  enough, 
he  discovered,  what  every  foreigner  knew  before,  that  the  English 
system  was  much  behind  that  of  other  countries.  He  found  the 
school-children  of  France,  Germany,  and  Switzerland  looking  "liu- 
man."  Those  who  have  seen  the  look  on  the  faces  of  the  English 
peasantry  will  appreciate  his  meaning.  But  what  can  be  expected 
when  we  consider  how  recent  has  been  the  effort  to  raise  them  up  ? 
Matthew  Arnold,  Nineteenth  Century,  Oct.,  1886.  Still,  backward  as 
it  is,  the  system  is  intended  only  for  the  very  poor  and  very  young. 
For  the  middle  classes  no  provision  is  made  at  all.  On  this  subject 
Mr.  Arnold  wrote,  in  1885 :  "  I  have  often  said  that  we  seem  to  me 
to  need  at  present  in  England  three  things  in  especial — more  equal- 
ity, education  for  the  middle  classes,  and  a  thorough  municipal  sys- 
tem :  a  system  of  local  assemblies  is  but  the  natural  complement  of  a 
thorough  municipal  system." — Nineteenth  Century^  Feb.,  1885,  p.  231. 
In  1891  the  English  budget  showed  a  surplus,  caused  by  the  in- 
creased consumption  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the  kingdom.  Of 
this  surplus,  £2,000,000  w-ere,  after  a  long  parliamentary  debate, 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  elementary  education,  in  addition  to  the  ap- 
propriations made  before.  This  will  make  education  for  the  very 
poor  substantially  free. 


PUBLIC   LIBRARIES   IN   ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA  35 

home  he  wrote,  regarding  the  operatives  that  he  saw 
there :  "  I  am  now  going  to  state  three  facts  which  will 
startle  a  large  class  of  readers  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic very  much.  Firstly,  there  is  a  joint-stock  piano  in 
a  great  many  of  the  boarding-houses.  Secondly,  nearly 
all  these  young  ladies  subscribe  to  circulating  libraries. 
Thirdly,  they  have  got  up  among  themselves  a  period- 
ical called  the  Lowell  Offering^  'a  repository  of  orig- 
inal articles  written  exclusively  by  females  actively  em- 
ployed in  the  mills,'  which  is  duly  printed,  published, 
and  sold,  and  whereof  I  brought  awa}^  from  Lowell  four 
hundred  good,  solid  pages,  which  I  have  read  from  be- 
ginning to  end.  It  will  compare  advantageously  with 
a  great  many  English  annuals."  * 

Connected  with  the  subject  of  popular  education  are 
some  other  important  and  interesting  facts.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1886,  the  Library  Association  of  the  United 
Kingdom  met  in  London.  The  report  then  presented 
showed  that  in  all  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland 
there  were  but  one  hundred  and  fourteen  free  libraries. 
The  London  Standard,  in  an  article  on  the  subject,  held 
up  America  as  an  example  for  England  to  imitate. 
"Americans,"  it  said,  "are  our  masters  in  many  de- 
partments of  literary  administration,"  and  then  referred 
to  our  town  libraries,  which  in  England  are  almost  un- 
known.f  Well  may  Englishmen  express  surprise  at  the 
public  libraries  in  the  United  States.  According  to  the 
last  report  upon  this  subject,  made  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Education  in  1884,  those  containing  more  than  three 


*  "  American  Notes,"  p.  G6. 

t  New  York  Tribune,  Sept.  30tli,  Oct.  4th,  1886.  This  system 
began  in  New  York  in  1835,  but  that  state  has  been  since  far  out- 
stripped by  some  of  her  sisters. 


36  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

hundred  volumes  each  numbered  over  .five  thousand, 
with  an  aggregate  of  over  twenty  miUion  volumes,  and 
most  of  them  are  free.  "VVe  have  no  such  single  colossal 
collection  as  that  of  the  British  Museum,  but  the  books 
there  are  used  only  by  scholars  as  works  of  reference. 
These,  too,  which  are  much  needed,  will  come  in  time.* 
The  books  scattered  over  America  are  intended  for  an- 
other purpose,  and  are  read  by  the  people  for  whom 
they  are  supplied.  The  result  is  that  the  Americans, 
whose  tastes  are  thus  fostered,  are  the  greatest  reading 
people  of  the  world.  Of  all  the  standard  English  books, 
many  more  copies,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  are 
sold  in  the  United  States  than  in  Great  Britain.  Even 
the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  supposed  to  be  partic- 
ularly a  work  for  scholars,  had  fifty  thousand  American 
subscribers  for  its  ninth  edition,  against  ten  thousand  in 
Great  Britain,  with  more  than  half  the  population  of 
the  United  States.  Of  Herbert  Spencer's  Avorks,  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  were  sold  before  he  visited 
this  country,  in  1882,  "When  we  come  to  American 
books,  the  figures  are  fabulous.  The  "  American  Cyclo- 
pedia" had  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  subscrib- 
ers, and  the  "Memoirs  of  General  Grant"  over  three 
hundred  thousand. 

Turning  now  from  the  common  schools  and  the  libra- 
ries for  the  education  of  the  masses,  when  we  glance  at 
institutions  for  higher  education,  the  contrast  between 
America  and  England  is  even  more  marked.  The  latter 
country  affords  no  free  education  to  the  middle  classes, 


*  Of  our  public  libraries,  more  than  three  hundred  contain  over 
ten  thousand  volumes,  forty-seven  over  fifty  thousand,  twelve  over  a 
hundred  thousand,  and  two  over  four  hundred  thousand  each. — 
Carnegie's  "  Triumi^hant  Democracy,"  p.  362. 


FREE   HIGH    SCHOOLS   IN   AMERICA  37 

and  no  free  higher  education  to  any,  while  in  this  field 
America  reigns  supreme.  In  thoroughness  of  instruc- 
tion her  average  primary  schools,  though  superior  to 
those  of  England,  are  perhaps  inferior  to  those  of  Ger- 
many and  even  France,  with  their  old  civilization  and 
denser  populations.  But  her  system  of  free  public  high 
schools  is  a  growth  of  democracy,  which  has  been  as  yet 
achieved  in  none  of  the  older  countries."  France  and 
Germany  have  some  high  schools  assisted  by  the  State, 
but  America  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  where  the 
principle  is  fully  recognized  that  every  person  is  enti- 
tled to  receive  a  thorough  and  complete  education  at 
the  public  charge. 

To  secure  this,  not  only  are  free  grammar  or  high 
schools  generally  to  be  found  in  all  the  larger  towns — 
and  those  of  Western  cities  like  Denver  and  Omaha 
are  not  inferior  to  those  in  Eastern  places  of  the  same 
sizef  —  but  twenty-eight  states  have  established  state 
universities,  which  in  most  cases  offer  a  free  classical 
and  scientific  college  education.  In  addition,  all  the 
states  but  six  have  founded  free  normal  schools  and 
training  colleges,  some  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  in 
number,  for  the  education  of  male  and  female  teachers.:}: 
In  the  United  States  are  three  thousand  six  hundred 
and  fifty  schools  higher  than  those  for  primary  instruc- 
tion. Of  these,  three  hundred  and  eighty -four,  exclu- 
sive of  those  for  women  alone,  are  universities  or  col- 
leges.    To  be  sure,  many  of  these  institutions  are  but 


*  Westminster  Review,  Jan.,  1887,  p.  13. 

t  In  1888-89  the  United  States  expended  on  her  high  schools  about 
$40,000,000.—"  Report  of  Com.  of  Education."  This  was  in  addi- 
tion to  the  $130,000,000  for  common  schools. 

X  See  "Report  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,"  1887-88. 


38  THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

high  schools  authorized  to  confer  degrees,  but  tliey  place 
the  key  of  knowledge  within  the  reach  of  every  one 
who  cares  for  a  student's  life,  and  increase  enormously 
the  chances  of  bringing  to  the  front  any  latent  genius. 
In  England  such  development  is,  in  the  main,  only  for 
the  rich. 

At  one  time  it  was  very  natural  for  the  American 
scholar  to  look  down  on  our  American  colleges,  and  to 
look  up  with  awe  to  the  classic  halls  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  as  model  seats  of  learning.  But  the  latter 
feeling  has  practically  passed  away.  The  clear-sighted 
American  long  since  discovered  that,  to  the  student, 
England,  with  her  somewhat  antiquated  system  of  in- 
struction, has  little  to  offer.  The  fact  is,  that  the  Eng- 
lish are  to-day  nearly  as  far  behind  the  world  in  higher 
as  in  primary  education.  During  the  great  intellectual 
awakening  which  followed  the  Middle  Ages,  the  classics 
were  eagerly  studied  by  European  scholars  because  they 
opened  up  a  new  world  of  thought,  and  furnished  mod- 
els of  literary  excellence  elsewhere  unknown.  In  tak- 
ing up  these  branches,  England  lagged  a  century  behind 
the  Continent,  and  now  that  other  fields  are  developed 
she  is  almost  as  much  in  the  rear  as  ever.  Although 
the  world  has  made  great  advances  since  the  Revival  of 
Learning,  it  is  still  very  difficult  to  persuade  an  English- 
man that  the  sole  aim  of  a  university  education  is  not 
to  pass  some  civil-service  examination,  or  to  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  Greek  and  Latin,  the  chief  test  of  a  schol- 
ar three  centuries  ago,  to  which  may  now  be  added  a 
knowledge  of  the  mathematics.  Everywhere  the  value 
of  these  studies  is  conceded;  but  Continental  nations  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  others  are  of  equal,  if  not  of  para- 
mount, importance.  The  result  is,  that  the  Englishman 
of  the  present  generation  who  desires  to  pursue  with 


ENGLISH    HIGHER   EDUCATION  39 

thoroughness  any  branch  of  modern  study,  including 
even  his  own  literature,  is  compelled,  in  most  cases,  to 
seek  his  instruction  in  the  Continental  universities.* 

If  England  has  anything  of  which  she  may  be  justly 
proud,  it  is  her  literature,  and  especially  her  poetry. 
From  Shakespeare  to  Tennyson  she  shows  a  roll  of 
authors  unsurpassed  in  modern  times.  Whatever  else 
may  pass  away,  however  time  may  work  changes  in  her 
form  of  government — whether  she  lose  Ireland,  India, 
her  commercial  supremacy,  or  her  wealth — her  literature 
at  least  will  be  immortal.  Yet  when  we  see  a  Frenchman 
writing  the  only  history  of  that  literature  worthy  of  the 
name,  and  when  we  are  told  by  her  own  scholars  that 


*  Of  the  English  university  education  of  to-day,  Prof  Huxley 
says  :  "  That  a  young  Eugiislimau  may  be  turned  out  of  our  universi- 
ties epopt  and  perfect,  so  far  as  their  system  takes  him,  and  yet  ig- 
norant of  the  noble  literature  "which  has  grown  up  in  these  islands 
during  the  last  tliree  centuries,  no  less  than  of  the  development  of 
the  philosophic  and  political  ideas  which  have  most  profoundly  influ- 
enced modern  civilization,  is  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the  nineteenth 
century  wliicli  the  twentieth  will  find  hard  to  believe;  though,  per- 
haps, it  is  not  more  incredible  than  our  current  superstition  that 
whoso  wishes  to  write  and  speak  English  well  should  mould  his 
style  after  the  models  furnished  by  classical  antiquity." — The  Pall 
Mall  Budget,  Oct.  28,  1886.  Cambridge  has  never  done  anything 
worth  speaking  of  for  the  study  of  English  literature,  and  it  was 
not  until  1886  that  a  chair  for  that  subject  was  founded  at  Oxford. 
Prof  Max  Miiller  said  at  the  time :  "I  have  had  to  confess,  particu- 
larly in  conversation  with  Americans,  who  often  come  to  Oxford  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  studying  English  literature,  that  our  not  having 
a  professor  of  that  subject  at  Oxford  seemed  to  me  a  serious  blem- 
ish."— Idem.  Prof.  Skeat,  of  Cambridge,  wrote  to  the  new  young 
professor  who  had  been  educated  at  Berlin  and  Gottingen :  "You 
know  —  what  few  Englishmen  have  any  idea  of — what  training 
in  our  language  and  literature  is  and  involves.  For  it,  American 
students  always  go  to  Germany.     They  can't  get  it  here." — Idem. 


40         TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMEUICA 

for  its  proper  study  one  must  go  to  Germany,  nothing 
else  as  to  English  higher  education  need  cause  surprise. 

As  to  every  other  department  of  knowledge  the  story 
is  now  the  same.  Take  medicine,  surgery,  chemistry, 
or  any  other  branch  of  science ;  law,  philosophy,  history, 
or  art  in  any  of  its  forms,  and  although  Englishmen 
have  achieved  exceptional  greatness  in  almost  every 
department,  no  one  ever  thinks  of  going  to  England, 
as  in  times  past,  to  pursue  his  studies.  Americans  go 
there  to  visit  the  homes  of  their  ancestors,  to  look  at 
stately  castles  and  superb  cathedrals,  to  travel  through 
a  land  full  of  historic  interest ;  but  when  they  wish  to 
study  they  go  to  France,  Germany,  Italy,  or  Austria.* 

So  long  as  America  simply  followed  English  prece- 


*  Tliixt  the  English  themselves  are  waking  up  to  an  appreciation  of 
the  fact  that  something  is  wrong  about  their  colleges  appears  from 
the  protest  against  their  educational  system,  signed  by  several  hun- 
dred leading  scholars,  which  was  published  in  tlie  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury for  Nov.,  1888.  See  also  article  on  "Oxford  and  its  Professors," 
Edinburgh  Bevieio,  Oct.,  1889.  No  instruction  in  English  literature, 
rhetoric,  modern  European  languages  or  literature,  wliile  the  attend- 
ance at  lectures  on  science,  philosophy,  law,  etc.,  is  little  more  than 
nominal.  Max  MiiUer  says:  "To  enable  young  men  to  pass  their 
examinations  seems  now  to  have  become  the  chief,  if  not  the  only, 
object  of  the  universities." — "India,  What  Can  It  Teacli  Us?"  Amer. 
ed.  p.  19.  The  examinations  are  for  admission  to  the  civil  service. 
Every  reader,  of  course,  will  understand  that  my  remarks  apply  only 
to  the  general  system  of  English  education,  which  is  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  out  of  touch  with  modern  thought.  Individual  Englishmen 
are,  through  home-training,  foreign  study,  the  influence  of  national 
societies,  and  a  general  intellectual  atmosphere  in  the  universities 
and  elsewhere,  among  the  most  cultured  and  scholarly  of  men.  Tliis 
has  come  about  despite  tlie  defects  in  their  system.  How  much 
more  would  be  accomplished  under  a  less  narrow  and  insular  system 
is  a  different  question. 


AMERICAN   HIGHER   EDUCATION  41 

dents,  her  colleges  were  defective  and  her  scientific  schools 
hardly  worthy  of  the  name.  Now,  under  Continental 
influences  which  every  scholar  appreciates,  that  reproach 
is  passing  away.  The  American  system  is  in  process  of 
speedy  development.  It  begins  at  the  bottom  with  the 
widest  base  of  general  education.  Deep  scholarship, 
high  intellectual  culture,  broad  scientific  knowledge, 
finished  artistic  skill,  are  fruits  of  slow  growth.  Why 
this  new  country  has,  in  the  past,  been  so  deficient  in 
these  respects  needs  no  explanation.  But  now,  even  in 
the  upper  departments,  although  she  has  no  cause  to  be 
boastful,  she  is  making  gratifying  progress.  Already,  in 
wood-engraving  for  book-illustration,  and  in  artistic  sil- 
verware, she  has  no  superior,  and  in  stained  glass  she 
has  no  equal.  In  astronomy  and  in  some  branches  of 
mathematics  she  takes  a  fair  place.  In  surgery  and  in 
all  surgical  appliances  she  probably  leads  the  world. 
Her  medical,  chemical,  and  engineering  schools  are  so 
excellent  that  for  mere  purposes  of  instruction  one  scarce- 
ly needs  to  go  abroad.  Her  universities  are  establish- 
ing post-graduate  courses,  which  bid  fair  in  time  to 
supersede  the  necessity  of  foreign  stud}^,  in  literature 
and  historical  science.  Harvard,  it  must  be  remembered, 
received  and  welcomed  the  new  learning  from  Germany, 
at  the  hands  of  Everett,  Bancroft,  and  Ticknor,  before 
it  was  accepted  at  the  English  universities.  Everett's 
translation  of  Buttmann''s  Greek  Grammar  was  reprinted 
in  England,  with  the  "  Massachusetts  "  omitted  after  the 
word  "  Cambridge  "  at  the  end  of  the  preface.  Mr.  Ban- 
croft's translation  of  Heeren  was  the  first  of  its  kind, 
and  the  earliest  version  from  Henry  Heine  into  English 
was  made  by  a  graduate  of  Harvard.* 


*  James  Russell  Lowell,  "  250th  Anniversary  of  Harvard." 


42  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

America  is  to-day  the  richest  and  the  first  manufact- 
uring, as  she  is  the  first  agricultural,  country  of  the 
world.  If,  with  her  wealth,  free  institutions,  and  uni- 
versal education,  she  also  in  the  future  becomes  the  first 
in  learning  and  in  art,  she  will  evidently  not  be  follow- 
ing the  example  of  England,  where  higher  education  is 
restricted  to  the  few. 

The  third  peculiar  institution  of  America  is  that  of 
local  self-government. 

The  contrast  in  this  particular  between  America  and 
England  is  as  marked  as  anything  that  can  be  well 
imagined ;  but  it  w^as  little  noticed  in  the  latter  country 
until  the  agitation  of  the  question  of  home  rule  for 
Ireland  brought  it  to  the  front.  Even  now,  after  all 
that  has  been  written  upon  the  subject,  unless  one  has 
examined  the  subject  with  care,  it  is  difficult  for  a  person 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  to  appreciate  the  condition 
of  local  government  in  Great  Britain.  The  difficulty 
arises  from  the  fact  that  there  is  nothing  which  can  be 
called  a  system,  and  the  consequent  helter-skelter  con- 
fusion is  something  the  very  existence  of  which  seems 
to  an  American  almost  incredible.  Ask  the  average 
Englishman  to  explain  bow  local  affairs  are  managed  in 
Engfland,  and  he  will  look  at  you  with  wonder.  He  can 
perhaps  tell  you  something  about  his  own  parish,  or 
something  very  vague  about  his  own  county,  but  beyond 
that  he  knows  nothing.  Some  matters  are  regulated 
by  the  clergyman  and  his  vestry,  others  by  the  poor 
wardens  ;  the  sheriffs  and  county  officials  are  appointed 
by  the  Crown,  w^hich  means  the  Cabinet ;  but  of  local 
self-government  by  the  people  themselves  almost  nothing 
exists  except  in  the  cities  and  larger  towns.* 


*  The  reader  who  wishes  to  study  the  character  of  English  local 


LOCAL   GOVERNMENT    IN   ENGLAND  43 

When  the  Englishman  turns  to  America,  he  sees  a 
system,  and  it  is  one  that  fills  him  with  surprise,  at  least, 
if  with  no  other  feeling.  Generally  he  looks  only  at  its 
more  salient  features,  the  relations  between  the  states 
and  the  federal  government.  In  England  Parliament 
ler  i  lates  for  the  whole  kingdom.  That  body  takes 
up  >n  itself  the  management  of  the  domestic,  the  local, 
the  parochial,  the  municipal  affairs  of  all  the  communities 


institutions  can  consult  "Local  Government,"  by  M.  D.  Chalmers,  in 
the  "  English  Citizen  Series,"  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1883.  This  book 
tells  a  tale  almost  incredible  of  confusion,  inefficiency,  and  waste. 
"  Local  government  in  this  country,"  it  says,  "  may  be  fitly  described 
as  consisting  of  a  chaos  of  areas,  a  chaos  of  authorities,  and  a  chaos 
of  rates,"  p.  17.  "Confusion  and  extravagance  are  tlie  character- 
istic features  of  the  whole  system,"  p.  21.  "  Local  boards  are  innumer- 
able, many  of  them  are  useless,  but  are  kept  up  merely  to  supply 
places  and  salaries  for  the  officials." — Idem.  "  The  total  property  in 
England  liable  to  taxation  is  estimated  to  produce  a  gross  rental  of 
£157,000,000.  Local  expenditures  for  1880  amounted  to  £50,000,000, 
nearly  one  third  of  the  rental,"  pp.  26,  28.  "English  local  affairs  are 
regulated  by  some  650  acts  of  Parliament  of  general  application,  and 
several  thousand  of  a  special  character  for  particular  towns  or  dis- 
tricts. The  latter  accumulate  at  tlie  rate  of  about  sixty  a  year.  In 
England  and  Wales  are  52  counties,  239  municipal  boroughs,  70 
Improvement  Act  districts,  1006  urban  sanitary  districts,  41  port 
sanitary  authorities,  577  rural  sanitary  districts,  2051  school-board 
districts,  424  highway  districts,  843  burial-board  districts,  649  unions, 
194  lighting  and  watcliing  districts,  14,916  poor-law  parishes,  5064 
highway  parishes,  and  about  13,000  ecclesiastical  parishes.  These 
all  overlap  and  intersect  each  other,  so  as  to  make  a  perfect  tangle 
of  jurisdictions.  One  farm  of  200  acres  was,  some  few  years  ago, 
in  twelve  different  parishes,  and  subject  to  about  fifty  different  rates," 
pp.  18,  21.  Some  districts  are  governed  by  twelve,  fifteen,  or  twenty 
different  local  authorities,  selected  at  different  times,  and  with  dif- 
ferent qualifications  for  the  voters.  No  wonder  that  every  English- 
man gives  tlie  subject  up  in  despair,  as  incapable  of  comprehension. 


44       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

of  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales.  It  arranges 
for  every  local  gas  bill,  water  bill,  sewerage  bill,  and 
railway  bill  for  the  two  islands.  In  America,  the  Federal 
Congress  legislates  only  on  matters  of  national  concern, 
everything  else  is  left  to  the  separate  states. 

But  the  difference  between  the  two  countries  goes 
much  deeper  than  this.  The  American  system  is  a  com- 
plete one,  reaching  down  to  the  foundations,  and  the 
foundations  are  its  most  important  portions.  At  the 
bottom  lies  the  township,  which  divides  the  whole  ISTorth 
and  West  into  an  infinity  of  little  republics,  each  manag- 
ing its  own  local  affairs.  In  the  old  states  they  differ  in 
area  and  in  their  machinery.  In  the  new  states  of  the 
West  they  are  more  regular  in  size,  being  generally  six 
miles  square.  But  in  all  the  system  is  substantially 
alike.  Each  township  elects  its  own  local  officers  and 
manages  its  own  local  affairs.  Annually,  a  town  meet- 
ing is  held  of  all  the  voters,  and  suffrage  is  limited  only 
by  citizenship.  At  these  meetings,  not  only  are  the 
local  officers  elected,  such  as  supervisors,  town-clerks, 
justices  of  the  peace,  road-masters,  and  the  like,  but 
money  is  appropriated  for  bridges,  schools,  libraries,  and 
other  purposes  of  a  local  nature. 

Next  above  the  township  stands  the  county,  an  aggre- 
gate of  a  dozen  or  so  of  towns.  Its  officials,  sheriffs, 
judges,  clerks,  registers,  and  other  officers  to  manage 
county  affairs  are  chosen  at  the  general  state  election. 
It  also  has  a  local  assembly,  formed  of  the  town  super- 
visors. They  audit  accounts,  supervise  the  county  in- 
stitutions, and  legislate  as  to  various  county  matters. 

Above  the  counties  again  stands  the  state  government, 
with  its  legislature,  which  passes  laws  relating  to  state 
affairs  ;  and  finally  the  federal  government,  Avhich  deals 
only  with  national  concerns.     The  whole  forms  a  con- 


LOCAL    GOVERNMENT   IN   AMERICA  45 

sistent  and  harmonious  system,  whicli  reminded  Mat- 
thew Arnold  of  a  well-fitting  suit  of  clothes,  loose  where 
it  should  be  loose,  and  tight  where  tightness  is  an  ad- 
vantage. 

As  we  have  already  noticed,  the  feature  of  it  all 
which  strikes  the  Englishman  most  forcibly  is  the  sepa- 
ration of  local  from  national  affairs  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  state  and  the  general  government.  But  the 
township  system,  with  its  more  direct  local  self-govern- 
ment, is  of  greater  importance.  Giv^en  that,  and  the  rest 
of  the  system  follows  almost  as  matter  of  course.  Every 
American  is  a  politician,  and  feels  a  keen  interest  in  his 
presidential  and  state  elections.  But,  after  all,  these  are 
generally  of  much  less  practical  importance  to  him  than 
the  home  elections,  which  determine  whether  his  local 
affairs  shall  be  wisely,  economically,  and  justly  admin- 
istered. General  taxation  is  a  trifle  compared  with  that 
for  his  schools,  roads,  bridges,  and  other  local  expenses. 
It  is  in  the  town  meeting  that  the  incipient  statesman  is 
formed.  It  is  in  managing  his  local  affairs  that  the 
American  acquires  the  discipline,  the  self-respect,  and 
self-reliance  which  enable  him,  when  occasion  calls,  to 
command  a  company,  a  regiment,  or  an  army,  control  a 
railroad  or  govern  a  state.  When  our  late  war  closed, 
the  United  States  had  one  of  the  most  efficient  armies 
that  ever  stood  in  line  of  battle.  The  secret  lay  in  the 
fact  that  each  man  was  a  drilled  and  disciplined,  but 
at  the  same  time  a  thinking,  machine.  The  drill  and 
discipline  came  from  years  of  service,  but  the  man 
beneath  them  came  from  the  school-house  and  the  town 
meeting. 

'Now,  does  any  one  imagine  that  the  American  insti- 
tutions of  local  self-government  are  of  English  origin  ? 
What  England  is  to-day  we  have  faintly  outlined.     As 


46  THE    PUlilTAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

to  the  past,  we  can  pursue  the  same  line  of  inquiry  as 
was  followed  in  relation  to  the  origin  of  the  free-school 
system.  It  was  only  where  the  Puritans  settled  that  the 
township  and  the  town  meeting  were  fully  developed. 
Virginia  attempted  to  copy  directly  the  parishes  and 
vestries,  boroughs  and  guilds,  of  England.  Jefferson 
said :  "  These  wards,  called  townships  in  ISTew  England, 
are  the  vital  principle  of  their  government ;  and  have 
proved  themselves  the  "wisest  invention  ever  devised  by 
tlie  wit  of  man  for  the  perfect  exercise  of  self-govern- 
ment, and  for  its  preservation,"  De  Tocqueville  wrote, 
over  fifty  years  ago :  "  The  more  w^e  descend  towards 
the  South,  the  less  active  does  the  business  of  the  town- 
ship or  parish  become ;  the  population  exercises  a  less 
immediate  influence  on  affairs;  the  power  of  the  elected 
magistrate  is  augmented  and  that  of  the  elections  di- 
i^inished,  while  the  public  spirit  of  the  local  communities 
is  less  awakened  and  less  influential."  The  system  does 
not  appear  to  be  English  in  its  origin.  How  it  came  to 
America  is  an  interesting  question. 

We  have  now  passed  in  review  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  institutions  which  to-day  are  found  in 
the  United  States  and  are  not  found  in  England.  Even 
if  we  went  no  further,  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who, 
after  studying  their  influence  upon  the  national  life  and 
character,  should  still  continue  to  claim  that  America 
was  only  a  transplanted  England.  But,  in  addition  to 
these  peculiar  institutions,  there  are  others,  now  com- 
mon to  both  countries,  which  have  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  United  States  for  more  than  a  century, 
while  they  have  been  only  recently  introduced  into  Eng- 
land, and  in  that  country  are  just  beginning  to  bear 
fruit. 

Three  of  these  are  of  an  importance  which  no  one 


RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY  IN    ENGLAND  AND   AMERICA  47 

will  question.  They  are  freedom  of  religion,  freedom 
of  the  press,  and  the  secret  ballot.  The  first  protects 
the  conscience,  the  second  protects  the  mind,  the  third 
protects  the  suffrage.  Without  these  guarantees  the 
United  States  of  the  nineteenth  century  seems  impossi- 
ble, and  yet  for  none  of  them  are  we  indebted  to  the 
legislation  or  to  the  example  of  the  mother  country.  In 
adopting  each  of  them,  England  has  not  been  the  leader, 
but  has  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  America. 

First,  as  to  the  introduction  of  religious  liberty  into 
the  two  countries,  a  few  dates  tell  the  whole  story.  Of 
the  Established  Church  in  England  I  have  already 
spoken  —  the  Church  which  exacts  a  tax  from  every 
one,  and  which  is  the  chief  bulwark  of  the  aristocracy. 
Still,  with  the  exception  of  this  tax,  all  religious  de- 
nominations stand  to-day  in  England  on  a  basis  of 
equality  before  the  law,  save  that  a  Catholic  cannot 
sit  on  the  throne,  nor  can  he  hold  the  oflBce  of  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England  or  that  of  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Ireland.  But  the  establishment  of  this  equality  is  of 
very  recent  date.  In  1689  a  partial  Act  of  Toleration 
was  enacted,  but  it  was  not  extended  to  Unitarians  un- 
til 1813,  to  Eoman  Catholics  until  1829,  and  to  Jews  un- 
til 1858.  Until  such  respective  dates  the  members  of 
these  proscribed  religious  bodies  were  excluded  from 
public  office,  while  it  was  not  until  1871  that  all  relig- 
ious tests  were  abolished  in  the  universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  so  as  to  open  those  institutions  equally 
to  students  of  all  religious  denominations. 

The  removal  of  this  last  restriction,  as  we  shall  see 
hereafter,  was  nearly  a  hundred  years  after  religious 
liberty  had  been  proclaimed  in  the  United  States. 

jSText  let  us  consider  the  question  of  the  freedom  of 
the  press.     Of  the  importance  of  this  subject  nothing 


48         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMEKICA 

need  be  said ;  but  here  again  attention  is  for  the  present 
requested  simply  to  a  few  facts  and  dates.  About  a 
centuiy  after  tlie  printing-press  was  introduced  into 
England,  and  as  soon  as  it  came  to  be  recognized  as  a 
power  in  religious  and  political  discussions,  it  was  placed 
under  a  rigid  censorship.  Printing  was  permitted  only 
in  certain  specified  places,  and  the  approval  of  certain 
officials  was  required  before  a  book  could  be  given  to 
the  public.  This  system  continued  until  1693,  when  the 
licensing  law  was  permitted  to  expire.* 

But  with  the  abolition  of  the  censorship  the  English 
judges  took  the  subject  up,  and  the  system  which  was 
developed  under  their  manipulation  of  the  law  was 
nearly  as  oppressive  as  the  one  just  abolished.  They 
held  that  in  criminal  prosecutions  for  libel — and  such 
prosecutions  were  the  ordinary  means  of  silencing  polit- 
ical opponents — the  truth  could  not  be  given  in  evidence, 
and  that  the  jury  before  whom  the  offender  was  tried 
had  nothing  to  do  except  to  pass  upon  the  fact  of  publi- 
cation. "  The  greater  the  truth,  the  greater  the  libel," 
became  the  maxim  of  the  law.  In  other  words,  if  a 
citizen  published  a  statement  regarding  an  official  or  a 
candidate  for  office,  charging  him  with  corruption  or 
with  any  other  offence  against  the  state,  the  publisher 
or  author  could  be  arrested  for  libel,  and  would  be  tried 
before  a  judge,  who  excluded  all  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  the  charges,  left  to  the  jury  only  the  question  of  the 
publication  or  authorship,  and  then,  if  the  prisoner  was 
found  guilty,  sentenced  him  to  fine  or  imprisonment, 
and  frequently  to  both. 

ISTo  one  at  all  acquainted  with  the  political  history  of 
England  needs  to  be  told  how  persistently  this  muzzle 


*  Hallam's  "Constitutional  History,"  iii.  163. 


FREEDOM    OF   THE   PRESS  IN   ENGLAND  49 

of  the  press  was  utilized  by  the  government  during  the 
last  centurj^.  There  were,  from  time  to  time,  juries  to  be 
found  who,  under  the  spell  of  consummate  orators,  were 
willing  to  go  to  prison  for  contempt  of  court  rather  than 
to  find  a  verdict  against  the  tribunes  of  the  people.  But 
for  such  revolts  against  the  law  English  liberty  would 
have  been  dead  indeed.  Yet  although  under  these  occa- 
sional breaths  of  free  air  the  spark  was  kept  alive,  the 
flame  burned  very  low.* 


*  Chief  Justice  Holt  is  represented  in  history  as  one  of  the  friends 
and  upholders  of  liberty.  In  1704,  Tutchin,  the  printer  of  the  OJ- 
servator,  was  tried  before  him  for  an  article  criticising  Queen  Anne's 
ministers  in  language  which  we  should  now  consider  very  innocent. 
The  defendant's  counsel  having  attempted  to  justify  it,  Holt  observed 
to  the  jury :  "  I  am  surprised  to  be  told  that  a  writing  is  not  a  libel 
H'hich  reflects  upon  tlie  government,  and  endeavors  to  possess  the 
people  with  the  notion  that  the  government  is  administered  by  cor- 
rupt persons.  If  writers  should  not  be  called  to  account  for  possess- 
ing the  people  with  an  ill  opinion  of  the  government,  no  government 
can  subsist.  You  are  to  consider  whether  the  words  which  I  have 
read  to  you  do  not  tend  to  beget  an  ill  opinion  of  the  administration 
of  the  government.  Their  purport  is  that  those  who  are  employed 
know  nothing  of  the  matter,  and  those  who  do  know  are  not  em- 
ployed ;  that  men  are  not  adapted  to  offices,  but  ofBces  to  men,  out 
of  particular  regard  to  their  interest,  and  not  to  their  fitness."  The 
defendant  was  accordingly  found  guilty.  Campbell's  "Lives  of 
the  Chief  Justices"  (Blauchard  &  Lea,  1853),  ii.  120.  This  was 
the  law  for  many  years,  that  any  reflection  upon  the  administration 
was  punishable  as  a  criminal  libel.  See  Hallam's  "  Cons.  Hist.," 
iii.  164-166.  In  1731,  on  the  trial  of  Franklin,  Lord  Raymond 
positively  refused  to  admit  any  evidence  to  prove  the  published 
matter  to  be  true.  In  the  famous  trial  of  the  Dean  of  St.  Asaph,  some 
fifty  years  later,  Lord  Mansfield  sustained  this  doctrine,  and  he  was 
afterwards  supported  in  his  view  of  the  law  by  all  the  judges  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  Campbell's  "Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices,"  ii. 
410-413. 

I.— 4 


50         THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

In  1792,  Mr.  Fox's  Libel  bill  was  passed,  declaring  that 
on  a  trial  for  libel  the  jury,  in  giving  its  verdict,  had  a 
right  to  take  into  consideration  the  character  and  ten- 
dency of  the  paper  alleged  to  be  libellous.  Still,  the  truth 
of  the  facts  stated  in  the  publication  complained  of  could 
not  be  inquired  into ;  for  half  a  century  longer  the  maxim 
prevailed, ''  the  greater  the  truth  the  greater  the  libel ;" 
and  it  was  only  in  the  year  1845,  under  Lord  Camp- 
bell's Libel  bill,  that  the  truth  was  finally  admitted  in 
evidence,  and  the  jury  was  allowed  to  decide  whether 
the  defendant  was  actuated  by  malice  or  by  a  desire  for 
the  good  of  the  community.* 

Such  was  the  law  of  libel  in  England  until  1845.  Now 
let  us  turn  to  the  United  States.  The  first  amendments 
to  the  Federal  Constitution,  adopted  in  1791,  provided 
that  Congress  should  make  no  law  "  abridging  the  free- 
dom of  speech  or  of  the  press,"  and  most  of  the  early 
constitutions  of  the  states  already  contained  similar  or 
more  stringent  guarantees.  But  in  1790  a  further  step 
had  been  taken  by  one  of  the  Middle  States.  In  that 
year  Pennsylvania  adopted  her  second  Constitution, 
which  contained  the  following  provision :  "  In  prosecu- 
tions for  the  publications  of  papers  investigating  the 
oflScial  conduct  of  officers  or  men  in  a  public  capacity,  or 
where  the  matter  published  is  proper  for  public  infor- 
mation, the  truth  thereof  may  be  given  in  evidence;  and 
in  all  indictments  for  libels  the  jury  shall  have  a  right  to 
determine  the  law  and  the  facts,  under  the  direction  of 
the  court,  as  in  other  cases."  This  was  two  years  before 
the  half-way  measure  of  Mr.  Fox,  and  fifty-five  years  be- 
fore the  bill  of  Lord  Campbell.     Imitating  the  example 


*  Campbell's    "  Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices,"  "  Mansfield,"  ii. 
413. 


THE   WRITTEN   BALLOT  51 

of  Pennsylvania,  the  other  states  followed  with  similar 
provisions,  so  that  long  before  the  press  was  free  in  Eng- 
land, America  had  adopted  the  principle  that  in  prosecu- 
tions for  libel  the  truth  could  be  given  in  evidence  if 
published  for  proper  motives  and  for  justifiable  ends, 
and  that  the  jury  was  to  judge  of  the  law  as  well  as  of 
the  facts.* 

As  we  search  in  vain  to  find  in  England  the  orio-in  of 
the  religious  freedom  and  the  freedom  of  the  press  which 
prevail  in  the  United  States,  so  we  shall  meet  with  the 
same  results  in  searching  for  the  origin  of  the  system 
under  which  our  elections  are  carried  on  by  means  of  a 
written  or  printed  ballot.  A  secret  election  is  the  safe- 
guard of  republican  institutions.  Where  votes  for  pub- 
lic ofiicers  are  given  mvd  voce,  or  in  any  other  manner 
which  permits  one  person  to  learn  how  another  has 
voted,  there  can  be  no  real  freedom  of  elections.  This 
principle  is  now  so  well  understood  that  it  seems  an 
axiom  in  politics,  and  yet  it  was  not  until  the  year  1872 
that  voting  by  ballot  was  introduced  into  the  mother 


*  New  York  did  not  embody  this  principle  in  ber  Constitution 
until  1821 ;  but  the  Legislature  bad  declared  by  a  statute,  passed  in 
1805,  that  this  was  the  law  of  the  state.  In  1735,  when  a  colony, 
her  lawyers  insisted  that  the  English  law  of  libel  was  not  applicable 
here,  and  the  court  held  with  them  so  far  as  to  permit  the  jury  to 
pass  upon  the  law  as  well  as  the  facts,  and  the  prisoner  was  acquitted. 
"Zenger's  Trial,"  printed  in  New  York  and  London.  Thenceforth 
the  New  York  press  was  free  ;  but  in  New  England  a  censorship  ex- 
isted until  about  1755.  Tyler's  "  Hist,  of  American  Literature,"  i.  113. 
In  1723,  for  example,  Benjamin  Franklin  was  forced  to  leave  Boston, 
much  to  the  advantage  of  Pennsylvania,  for  having  published  a  libel 
on  its  hierarchy ;  his  brother,  for  the  same  offence,  was  imprisoned  for 
a  month,  and  forbidden  to  publish  his  paper  except  under  official 
supervision. 


52  TflE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

country.  Until  that  time  all  municipal  elections,  and  all 
elections  for  members  of  Parliament,  were  conducted  by 
show  of  hands  or  oral  declarations,  after  the  primitive 
fashion  of  rude  nations,  the  feudal  chieftain,  the  land- 
lord, or  employer  being  enabled  to  see  whether  his  hench- 
men, tenant,  or  employe  was  voting  for  the  candidate  of 
his  selection. 

For  many  years  protests  had  been  made  against  this 
system.  O'Connell  introduced  a  bill  on  the  subject  in 
1830,  and  the  original  draft  of  the  reform  bill  of  Lord 
John  Kussell  provided  for  voting  by  ballot.  But  writ- 
ers like  Sydney  Smith  denounced  the  "  Mouse  -  trap " 
scheme,  and  the  influence  of  the  men  who  profited  by 
intimidation  or  corruption  was  powerful  enough  to  pre- 
vent its  adoption  until  1872,  when  Mr.  Forster  passed 
his  famous  act,  which,  deriving  its  main  features  from 
Australia,  combines  the  elements  of  secrecy,  simplicity, 
and  efficiency.* 

Here  again  we  see  America  as  an  instructor,  and  not 
as  a  copyist,  of  England.  When  the  thirteen  colonies 
adopted  their  first  state  constitutions,  from  1776  to 
1790,  four  of  the  thirteen — Delaware,  Pennsylvania, 
Korth  Carolina,  and  Georgia— provided  that  all  voting 
at  elections  should  be  by  ballot.f  The  Constitution  of 
ISTew  York  permitted  the  Legislature  to  tr}^  it  as  an  ex- 
periment ;  this  was  done  in  the  election  of  governor  and 
lieutenant-governor  in  1778,  and  ten  years  later  the  new 
system  was  fully  introduced.  Following  these  exam- 
ples all  the  states,  old  and  new,  have  by  their  constitu- 


*  "  Encyclopsedia  Britannica,"  article  "  Ballot." 
t  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  which  continued  to  live  under 
their  old  charters  for  many  years,  already  had  the  system. 


THE    WRITTEN   BALLOT   IN   AMERICA  53 

tions  provided  for  the  same  mode  of  voting,  Kentucky 
bringing  up  the  rear  in  1891.* 

This  is  not  the  place  for  considering  the  question  of 
the  origin  of  rehgious  liberty,  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
or  the  secret  ballot.  Hereafter  these  subjects  will  be 
discussed.  But  one  fact  in  regard  to  their  existence  in 
America  is  very  apparent.  As  religious  liberty  and  the 
secret  ballot  were  established  here  nearly  a  century,  and 
the  freedom  of  the  press  more  than  half  a  centurv,  before 
their  establishment  in  England,  we  need  not  look  for 
their  origin  to  any  English  precedent.  English  writers, 
like  Sir  Henry  Maine,  who  have  looked  into  the  Federal- 
ist, express  surprise  at  the  sources  from  which  the  ex- 
pounders of  the  Federal  Constitution  drew  their  histori- 
cal illustrations.  Their  writings  display,  Maine  says,  an 
entire  familiarity  with  the  Republic  of  the  United  Neth- 
erlands, and  the  Romano-German  Empire,  but  "  there  is 
one  fund  of  political  experience  upon  which  the  Federal' 
ist  seldom  draws,  and  that  is  the  political  experience  of 
Great  Britain."f   But  the  men  who  founded  the  American 


*  Kentucky,  ■which  was  carved  out  of  Virginia,  adopted  the  ballot 
in  its  first  Constitution,  1793,  but  went  back  to  the  English  viva-voce 
system  in  1799,  and  retained  it  until  1891,  except  in  elections  for 
congressmen,  which  are  regulated  by  a  statute  of  the  United  States. 
Virginia  itself  retained  the  old  system  until  1864.  During  the  agi- 
tation for  a  ballot  in  England,  extending  over  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, the  example  of  the  United  States  was  constantly  referred  to  by 
its  advocates.  See  Edinburgh  Review,  1853,  p.  611 ;  1831,  p.  481. 
For  other  articles  on  the  subject,  see  1819,  p.  165 ;  1833,  p.  543 ;  1837, 
p.  211;  1857,  p. 262. 

t  "Popular  Government,"  by  Sir  Henry  Maine,  p.  206.  This  same 
writer,  in  an  earlier  work,  referring  to  the  American  Revolution, 
makes  a  significant  remark:  "The  American  lawyers  of  the  time, 
and  particularly  those  of  Virginia,  appear  to  have  possessed  a  stock 
of  knowledge  which  differed  chiefly  from  that  of  their  English  con- 


54  THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

republics,  state  and  federal,  were  not  seeking  to  imitate 
Great  Britain,  They  set  out  to  establish  institutions  such 
as  they  thought  England  ought  to  have,  and  not  those 
which  they  found  existing.  The  difference  between  these 
two  objects,  the  actual  and  the  ideal  English  institutions  of 
a  century  ago,  although  often  overlooked,  is  very  marked. 
Leaving  now  these  great  institutions  which  lie  at  the 
base  of  the  republic,  let  us  see  how  America  deals  with 
her  dependent,  abnormal,  and  criminal  population,  who 
in  England  form  such  a  large  section  of  the  people.  In 
1842,  Charles  Dickens  said  of  Boston  :  "  Above  all,  I  sin- 
cerely believe  that  the  public  institutions  and  charities 
of  this  capital  of  Massachusetts  are  as  nearly  perfect  as 
the  most  considerate  wisdom,  benevolence,  and  human- 
ity can  make  them.  I  never  in  my  life  was  more  af- 
fected by  the  contemplation  of  happiness  under  circum- 
stances of  privation  and  bereavement  than  in  my  visits 
to  these  establishments."  ^  In  commenting  on  the  dif- 
ference between  the  charities  of  America  and  England, 
Dickens  laid  great  and  deserved  stress  upon  the  fact 
that  those  of  this  country  were  in  the  main  managed  by 
the  state,  while  in  England  they  are  left  to  the  benevo- 
lence of  private  individuals.  He  argued  that  where  the 
unfortunate  classes  are  regarded  as  wards  of  the  people 
at  large,  a  better  feeling  must  exist  towards  the  govern- 
ment than  where  they  are  considered  outcasts  and  mere 
objects  of  private  charity.  This  is  the  key-note  of  the 
difference  between  the  nations,  and  we  find  the  same 
contrast  here  as  in  the  matter  of  education. 


temporaries  in  including  mucli  which  could  only  have  been  derived 
from  the  legal  literature  of  Continental  Europe." — "  Ancient  Law," 
Amer.  ed.  p.  91. 

*  "  American  Notes." 


CHARITABLE   AND    PENAL   INSTITUTIONS  55 

In  the  United  States,  the  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and 
imbecile  are  looked  upon  as  citizens  having  a  claim  upon 
the  State,  and  it  is  one  always  cheerfully  acknowledged. 
In  England  they  are  regarded  as  paupers,  who  must  be 
kept  from  starving  by  the  poor-rates,  but  beyond  that 
having  no  claim  upon  the  government.  In  fact.  Great 
Britain,  to-day,  is  the  only  country  in  the  civilized  world 
where  the  State  does  not  aid  in  the  education  of  the 
blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  those  without  ordinary 
mental  powers.*  The  proportion  of  the  abnormal  class- 
es in  America  is  much  smaller  than  in  Great  Britain,  so 
that  fewer  institutions  are  needed  as  compared  with 
the  population.  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  for  example, 
have  forty-six  deaf-and-dumb  asylums,  all  private,  while 
the  United  States  has  sixty-nine.  The  latter  are  most- 
ly public,  however,  and  in  them  the  whole  cost  of  board, 
clothing,  and  education  is  in  almost  every  case  under- 
taken by  the  State.f 

When  we  now  turn  to  prison  reforms,  we  shall  see 
America  again  as  an  instructor.  ISTo  one  at  all  acquaint- 
ed Avith  history  needs  to  be  told  of  the  criminal  code  of 
England  and  of  the  prison  system,  which  continued  there 
until  a  very  recent  date.  Up  to  the  reign  of  George  I. 
there  were  sixty-seven  offences  that  were  punishable  by 


*  "  The  British  tax-payer,  alone  among  all  civilized  Christian  men, 
enjoys  immunity  from  taxation  for  the  instruction  of  those  who  un- 
der the  name  of  the  '  abnormal  classes,'  those  who  without  sight 
and  without  ordinary  mental  power,  are  the  special  care  of  even  such 
a  poor  nation  as  Norway." — Dr.  Buxton's  "  Notes  on  Progress." 

t  The  Nineteenth  Century,  Oct.,  1884,  p.  597;  Report  of  U.  S.  Com. 
of  Education,  1887-88.  Besides  these,  tlie  United  States  have  thirty- 
two  public  asylums  for  the  blind  and  twenty-two  for  feeble-minded 
children.     Idem. 


56  THE    PUEITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

death.  Between  his  accession  and  the  termination  of  the 
reign  of  George  III.,  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  were 
added  to  the  number.  Of  the  criminal  statutes  of  Great 
Britain,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  said :  "  I  have  examined  the 
codes  of  all  nations,  and  ours  is  the  worst,  and  worthy 
of  the  anthropophagi."  As  for  the  prisons,  they  were 
what  Macaulay  called  them,  simply  "  hells  on  earth." 

The  first  reform  in  the  criminal  code  of  English-speak- 
ing people  began  in  Pennsylvania,  having  been  ordered 
in  the  State  Constitution  of  1776,  and  this  was  followed 
by  a  penitentiary  built  at  Philadelphia  in  1786,  through 
the  influence  of  the  Friends.  The  method  of  confine- 
ment in  this  institution  is  known  as  the  Pennsylvania 
system.  It  consists  of  absolute  solitary  imprisonment, 
in  which  the  convict  is  shut  off  from  all  human  compan- 
ionship. New  York  followed,  in  1797,  with  a  new  penal 
code  and  a  new  penal  system.  At  first,  the  solitary 
Pennsylvania  plan  was  tried,  but  this  was  found  to  en- 
tail serious  physical  and  mental  evils  upon  the  subjects. 
Finally,  at  Auburn  prison  there  was  introduced,  in  1823, 
the  svstem  of  solitarv  confineraent  at  night,  with  couOTe- 
gated  silent  work  by  day.  This  is  known  as  the  Auburn 
system,  and  has  been  more  generally  adopted  through- 
out the  civilized  world.* 

In  Great  Britain,  despite  the  labors  of  the  noble  How- 
ard, Elizabeth  Fry,  and  others,  there  was  no  real  prison 
reform  until  after  1831.  In  that  3^ear  a  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons  Avas  appointed  to  investigate 
the  whole  subject,  and  shortly  afterwards  it  sent  a  rep- 
resentative, Mr.  Crawford,  across  the  Atlantic  to  exam- 
ine the  prisons  of  America,  which  just  at  that  time  had 


*  "  A  Half  Century  with  Juvenile  Delinquents,"  by  B.  K.  Peirce, 
D.D.  (New  York,  1869),  p.  31. 


HOUSES   OF   KEFUGE  57 

been  highly  praised  by  distinguished  travellers  from 
France.*  Upon  his  return,  in  1834,  Mr.  Crawford  made 
an  able  and  exhaustive  report,  which  attracted  wide  at- 
tention. The  result  was  the  introduction  into  England 
of  the  American  prison  system,  upon  both  the  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  New  York  model. 

But  America  has  done  more  than  to  give  model  peni- 
tentiary systems  to  the  Old  World.  One  of  the  great- 
est evils  of  the  former  prisons  consisted  in  the  huddling 
together  of  all  ages  and  classes — the  young  with  the  old, 
the  child  guilty  of  his  first  offence  with  the  habitual 
criminal,  grown  gray  in  crime.  In  the  removal  of  this 
moral  leprosy  ISTew  York  led  the  way  by  establishing, 
in  1824,  a  House  of  Refuge  for  juvenile  delinquents.! 
By  the  laws  of  the  state  magistrates  were,  and  ever 
since  have  been,  authorized  to  send  to  this  reformatory 
institution  all  minors  convicted  of  trivial  offences,  and 
even  those  guilty  of  felony  if  under  sixteen  years  of 
age.  There  they  are  taught  trades,  are  educated  to  hab- 
its of  industry  and  thrift,  learn  that  they  have  friends 
who  care  for  their  welfare,  physical  and  spiritual,  and 
the  result  has  been  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  in- 
mates have  been  permanently  reformed.  In  1828,  Penn- 
sylvania followed  the  example  of  'New  York,  and  in  the 


*  "There  can  be  little  doubt,"  says  a  writer  in  the  " Encyclopaeclia 
Britannica" (article  "Prison  Discipline"),  "that  tliis  committee, like 
every  one  just  then,  was  greatly  struck  by  the  superior  method  of 
prison  discipline  pursued  in  the  United  States.  The  best  American 
prisons  had  recently  been  visited  by  two  eminent  Frenchmen,  MM. 
Beaumont  and  De  Tocqueville,  who  spoke  of  them  in  terras  of  the 
highest  praise.  It  was  with  the  object  of  appropriating  what  was 
best  in  the  American  system  that  Mr.  Crawford  was  despatched  across 
the  Atlantic  on  a  special  mission  of  inquiry." 

t  Edinburgh  Review,  1855,  p.  396. 


58  THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

next  forty  years  over  twenty  similar  institutions  were 
established  in  the  United  States,  which,  in  that  time, 
gathered  within  their  walls  from  forty  to  fifty  thou- 
sand criminal  or  imperilled  children.  From  America 
the  system  has  spread  to  Europe,  and  is  now  almost 
universal.*  As  the  result  of  tliis  kind  of  work,  the  com- 
mitments of  female  vagrants  in  the  city  of  ISTew  York 
fell  off  from  5880  in  1860  to  2525  in  1885,  although  in 
that  time  the  population  nearly  doubled.  The  commit- 
ments of  young  girls  for  petit  larceny  were  diminished 
from  944  to  243,  and  those  of  males  from  2626  to  1950. 
Since  1853  one  association  in  Kew  York,  the  Children's 
Aid  Society,  has  found  homes  in  the  West  for  some  80,000 
persons,  most  of  them  outcast,  neglected,  and  orphan 
children,  of  whom  over  ninety-five  per  cent,  have  turned 
out  well.f  England  established  her  first  public  institu- 
tion for  juvenile  offenders  under  the  act  of  1854.:|: 

We  have  now  reviewed  most  of  the  important  institu- 
tions which  may  be  considered  peculiarly  American — 
that  is,  such  as  are  found  in  this  country,  and  not  in  all 
other  countries  claiming  to  be  civilized.  In  our  freedom 
from  a  State  Church,  the  principle  of  equality  underly- 
ing our  whole  system,  in  our  written  constitutions,  the 
organization  of  our  Senate,  the  power  of  our  Supreme 
Court,  our  wide-spread  local  self-government,  and  our 
methods  of  transmitting  and  alienating  land,  we  find, 
even  to-day,  the  most  radical  differences  between  Amer- 
ica and  the  mother  country ;  while  we  also  find  that  we 

*"A  Half  Century  with  Juvenile  Delinquents."  The  census  of 
1890  shows  that  there  are  now  in  the  United  States  about  sixty  of 
these  juvenile  reformatories.     Census  Bulletin  No.  72. 

t  See  Report  of  Society  for  1886,  p.  17. 

J  See  Nineteenth  Century,  Jan.,  1887;  "Prison  Discipline,"  by 
Lord  Norton. 


ORTGIN   OP   AMERICAN   LAW  59 

have  been  leaders,  and  not  followers,  in  those  institu- 
tions where  a  resemblance  now  exists,  such  as  our  sys- 
tem of  popular  education,  freedom  of  religion,  freedom 
of  the  press,  the  secret  ballot,  and  the  vast  machinery  of 
public  charitable  and  reformatory  work. 

There  still  remains  one  subject  to  be  considered  in  this 
connection,  our  American  system  of  law,  which  is  usu- 
ally regarded  as  of  English  origin.  To  some  persons, 
especially  those  of  the  legal  profession,  this  topic  seems 
of  great  importance ;  they  call  crimes  by  English  names, 
use  English  phrases  in  their  legal  documents,  read  Eng- 
lish law-books,  and  are  inclined  to  argue,  from  the  stand- 
point of  their  studies,  that  we  must  be  an  English  race, 
because  we  inherit  the  inestimable  legacy  of  the  Com- 
mon Law. 

The  question  as  to  our  legal  system  has  been  already 
discussed,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  most  important  sub- 
jects with  which  governments  ever  attempt  to  deal; 
that  is,  religion  through  the  Church,  education  through 
the  printing-press,  means  of  subsistence  through  the  land, 
and  the  development  of  manhood  through  local  self-gov- 
ernment. Compared  with  the  law  upon  these  subjects, 
which  England  certainly  did  not  transmit  to  us,  the  rules 
by  which  states  or  individuals  transact  their  ordinary 
business  are  but  minor  matters. 

As  for  the  machinery  of  justice  in  America,  some  feat- 
ures of  it  are  important,  for  they  have  served  to  shape 
the  national  character ;  such  are  trial  by  jury,  the  right 
of  accused  persons  to  be  defended  by  counsel,  and  the 
employment  by  the  State  of  special  officers  for  the  pros- 
ecution of  criminals.  These  may  be  regarded  as  insti- 
tutions ;  and,  as  they  are  not  common  to  all  countries, 
their  origin  is  on  that  account  noteworthy,  and  will 
receive  consideration  in  another  place.     But  the  body 


60  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

of  municipal  la\y,  which  lays  down  rules  of  action  for 
the  common  affairs  of  life,  stands  on  a  different  basis. 
Among  all  civilized  nations,  although  different  names 
may  be  employed,  the  same  crimes  are  punished,  and  in 
much  the  same  manner;  the  same  principles  of  law  pre- 
vail in  business  matters,  and  there  is  but  little  variance 
in  their  modes  of  application.  The  question  of  the  ori- 
gin of  these  rules  as  they  exist  to-day  in  the  United 
States  is,  however,  an  interesting  one,  and,  if  not  of  in- 
trinsic importance,  its  discussion  will  throw  a  side-light 
on  some  other  material  subjects. 

Apart  from  the  great  differences  already  noticed,  and 
some  others  which  will  be  specifically  pointed  out  here- 
after, the  legal  systems  of  England  and  America  are 
much  alike.  But  this  alone  does  not  prove  that  Ameri- 
can law  is  of  English  origin,  any  more  than  it  would 
prove  it  in  regard  to  the  Decalogue,  which  we  also  have 
in  common  with  our  kin  across  the  sea.  The  latter,  al- 
though read  by  most  Americans  only  in  King  James's 
version  of  the  Bible,  far  antedates  the  birth  of  England, 
and  so  does  much  of  what  we  somewhat  loosely  speak 
of  as  English  law.  Most  of  this  law  is  a  transplanted 
growth,  very  little,  except  the  decayed  or  stunted  shoots, 
having  sprung  from  British  soil.  Some  of  it  has  come  to 
us  by  the  way  of  England — that  is,  through  the  decisions 
of  her  judges  and  the  writings  of  her  commentators — 
but  even  the  amount  of  this  is  often  overestimated.  We 
speak  of  English  law  as  of  English  agriculture  andJEng- 
lish  manufactures,  little  realizing  at  the  time  how  all  of 
the  three  have  changed  since  America  was  settled.  As 
to  the  law,  the  change,  though  gradual,  has  been  almost 
a  revolution.* 


*  "An  account  of  the  growth  and  development  of  our  legal  system 


THE    COLONISTS    OPPOSED   TO    ENGLISH    LAW  61 

Such  of  the  early  settlers  of  America  as  came  from 
England  were  so  opposed  to  the  whole  legal  machinery 
which  they  left  behind  them,  that  in  some  of  the  colo- 
nies lawyers  were  not  permitted  to  practise  their  pro- 
fession. Any  one  who  reads  the  State  Trials  of  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  and  the  Stuarts  will  understand  their 
abhorrence  of  the  English  mode  of  administering  crimi- 
nal law.  But,  apart  from  this,  they  disliked  the  whole 
civil  jurisprudence  of  their  native  land,  regarding  it  as 
cumbrous,  intricate,  unjust,  a  snare  for  the  unwary  and 
a  weapon  for  the  knave.  Well  might  they  entertain 
such  opinions,  for  probably  they  were  founded  on  their 
own  bitter  experience.  Few  things  in  the  history  of 
England,  during  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  and  the 
first  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  are  more  remark- 
able than  the  prevalence  of  litigation,  the  growth  and 
wealth  of  the  lawyers,  their  chicanery,  and  the  abuses 
of  the  courts.*  The  system  was  such  that  justice,  even 
when  there  was  honesty  among  the  judges,  was  almost 
utterly  lost  sight  of  in  a  jungle  of  technicalities,  worthy 
of  the  early  schoolmen.  The  American  colonists  gener- 
ally supplanted  this  system  with  codes,  many  of  the  pro- 
visions of  which  were  not  borrowed  from  England,  all 
having  the  merit  of  simplicity  and  being  based  on  plain 
principles  of  justice.f 


is  perhaps  the  most  urgently  needed  of  all  additions  to  English 
knowledge."  —  Sir  Henry  Maine,  "  The  Early  History  of  Institu- 
tions "  (Henry  Holt,  1888),  p.  342.  See  Gneist,  "  Hist,  of  the  English 
Constitution,"  ii.  331,  as  to  the  want  of  a  work  on  the  history  of  Enw- 
lisli  law  in  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  most  rapid  changes  took 
place  in  some  departments. 

*  See  Hall's  "  Society  in  the  Elizabethan  Age." 

t  The  early  codes  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  are  on  some 
important  points  more  than  a  century  in  advance  of  the  law  in  Eno-- 


62         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

As  the  colonies  grew,  their  jurisprudence  naturally  de- 
veloped with  them,  and  after  they  became  independent 
states  this  development  was  much  more  rapid.  New  law 
was  required  to  meet  new  conditions  of  society.  Some- 
times the  want  was  supplied  by  enactments  of  the  Legis- 
lature, at  others  by  what  Bentham  aptly  called  judge- 
made  law,  the  creation  of  the  courts.  The  result  is  that 
the  legal  system  of  America  has  changed  about  as  much 
in  the  last  two  centuries  as  the  face  of  the  country  itself. 
In  England,  too,  the  same  change  has  been  going  on,  in 
much  the  same  directions,  and  from  the  same  causes. 

Some  of  the  admirers  of  the  old  Common  Law,  who  re- 
gard it  as  the  perfection  of  human  reasoning — perhaps 
upon  the  theory  that  knowing  it  to  be  ugly  they  think 
it  must  be  great — tell  us  that  all  this  seeming  transforma- 
tion is  unreal,  that  there  has  been  only  a  development 
of  original  principles,  and  that  the  seeds  of  all  our  mod- 
ern system  were  contained  in  the  earliest  jurisprudence 
of  the  English  race.  Such  a  view  of  the  facts  ignores 
all  the  Continental  influences  which  have  affected  the 
institutions  of  England,  and  to  a  much  greater  extent 
those  of  the  United  States.  To  show  how  this  effect  has 
been  produced  is  the  main  object  of  the  present  work, 
and  to  its  general  discussion  the  subject  of  the  law  might 
make  a  fitting  prelude. 

England  and  America  have,  to-day,  much  the  same 


laud.  Cromwell,  who  had  studied  law,  and  the  other  leading  men 
of  the  Commonwealth  were  almost  as  much  opposed  to  the  lawyers 
as  the  colonists  themselves.  They  wished  to  simplify  the  law,  but 
the  lawyers,  as  a  class,  opposed  tliis  and  every  other  reform.  They 
flourished  on  abuses.  Cromwell  regarded  them  not  only  as  corrupt, 
but  as  among  the  worst  enemies  of  liberty.  Hosmer's  "  Sir  Henry 
Vane,"  p.  438.  I  shall  show  hereafter  what  attempts  were  made 
under  the  Commonwealth  to  reform  the  law. 


ROMAN    LAW    IN    AMERICA  63 

legal  principles,  but  they  are  the  same  because  derived 
in  large  measure  from  a  common  foreign  source,  the  Ro- 
man Civil  Law.  It  is  to  Rome  that  we  are  indebted  for 
almost  all  of  our  system  of  equity  and  admiralty ;  our 
laws  relating  to  the  administration  of  estates  and  the 
care  of  minors,  the  rights  of  married  w^omen,  bailments, 
and,  to  a  large  extent,  our  w^hole  system  of  commercial 
law.  Of  the  old  Common  Law  of  early  times,  the  sys- 
tem of  a  race  of  barbarians,  very  little  now  remains. 
How  this  has  been  brought  about  is  a  very  simple  story. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  men  w^ho  conquered 
the  Britons  and  founded  England  were  pagan  savages, 
the  rudest  of  their  race,  and  least  tinctured  with  the  civ- 
ilization of  Rome.  Cut  off  from  the  Continent,  where 
much  of  the  old  civilization  still  survived,  the  descend- 
ants of  these  men  lingered  on  in  barbarism,  long  after 
some  of  their  brethren  across  the  Channel.  As  for  the 
law  of  the  conquerors,  it  was  such  as  might  be  expected 
from  such  a  source.  They  knew  and  cared  little  about 
legal  principles.  Quite  early  they  established  the  doc- 
trine, common  to  all  rude  nations,*  that  what  some  chief 
or  judge  had  decided  years  before,  however  monstrous 
or  unjust,  must  be  followed  by  his  successors.  This 
made  memory  take  the  place  of  reason,  a  substitution 
never  entirely  reversed  among  their  descendants,  either 
in  legal  or  political  discussions.  But  if  there  was  little 
reason,  there  was  enough  reasoning  to  take  its  place. 
This,  however,  w^as  of  the  same  character  as  that  which 
prevailed  in  the  early  universities,  where  w^ords  Avere 
everything  and  principles  of  small  account.  Under  this 
system  there  grew  up  a  jurisprudence  cumbrous,  compli- 
cated, and  unnatural,  which  in  many  of  its  features  will 


*  See  Maine's  "  Ancient  Law." 


#> 


64  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

only  excite  amazement  and  derision  among  our  descend- 
ants a  few  generations  hence. 

Still,  there  was  one  link  between  England  and  the 
Continent ;  that  was  the  Komish  Church,  which  was  soon 
re-established.  This  brought  in  foreign  ecclesiastics,  and 
fortunately  some  of  them  had  a  knowledge  of  the  law  of 
Rome.  They  not  only  fostered  its  study  in  the  colleges, 
but,  obtaining  judicial  power  as  chancellors,  where  it 
was  possible,  and  against  the  bitter  opposition  of  the 
other  judges,  they  adopted  its  more  enlightened  princi- 
ples in  the  courts,  building  up  what  is  known  as  the  sys- 
tem of  equity,  to  correct  the  crudities,  injustice,  and  ab- 
surdities of  the  Common  Law.  When  England  in  time 
became  a  commercial  and  manufacturing  country,  and 
was  brought  into  contact  with  her  more  advanced  neigh- 
bors, the  process  went  on  further.  The  nations  of  the 
Continent  had  formed  their  jurisprudence  on  the  Civil 
Law  :  it  was  taught  in  their  universities,  and  became  the 
basis  of  all  commercial  dealings.  Hence  it  was  that  with 
the  development  of  her  commerce  and  manufactures 
England  absorbed  more  and  more  of  the  law  of  ancient 
Home. 

As  to  the  character  of  this  law,  let  us  call  a  few  mod- 
ern witnesses.  Chancellor  Kent  says  of  the  Pandects  of 
Justinian  that,  with  all  their  errors  and  imperfections, 
they  "  are  the  greatest  repository  of  sound  legal  princi- 
ples applied  to  the  private  rights  and  business  of  man- 
kind that  has  ever  appeared  in  any  age  or  nation."*  Sir 
George  Bowyer  says :  "  The  corpus  of  civil  law  is  a  ju- 
ridical compilation  which  contains  the  whole  science  of 
3urisprudence."t    Roby  adds  that  the  Civil  Law  of  Eome 


*  Kent's  "  Commentary,"  i.  541. 

t  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Civil  Law,"  p.  3. 


INFLUENCE    OF   THE    CIVIL   LAW  65 

is  to-day  the  principal  source  of  private  law  in  all  the 
civilized  countries  of  the  'world.* 

"  Servatur  ubique  jus  Roraanum  nou  ratione  imperii 
sed  imperio  rationis."t 

It  was  upon  this  foundation  that  Grotius,  of  Holland, 
built  up  the  modern  system  of  international  law.  l^o 
one  needs  to  be  told  that  it  was  from  the  law  of  Eome 
that  Lord  Mansfield,  in  the  last  century,  borrowed  the 
principles  which,  though  they  excited  the  indignation 
of  Junius,  have  given  to  his  name  an  imperishable 
renown  as  the  father  of  English  commercial  jurispru- 
dence. Within  the  present  century  the  assimilation  has 
been  going  on  more  rapidly  than  ever.  Much  of  the  re- 
sult, in  America,  is  due  to  the  efforts  of  Judge  Story, 
whose  text-books  are  filled  with  illustrations  and  prin- 
ciples borrowed  from  the  Civil  Law.  But  the  work  has 
been  progressing  in  all  directions.  Looking  at  our  legal 
system  to-day,  it  can  be  said  that  most  things  in  it  con- 
sistent with  natural  justice  come  from  Rome,  and  that 
its  incongruous,  absurd,  and  unjust  features  are  a  sur- 
vival of  old  English  customs  and  English  legislation. 

Such  statements  as  to  the  influence  of  the  Civil  Law 
upon  the  jurisprudence  of  England  and  America  may 
seem  novel  to  some  readers ;  but  the  whole  subject  of  the 
influence  of  Rome  upon  modern  society  is  comparatively 
new.  From  their  early  training,  in  school  and  college, 
many  persons  are  inclined  to  regard  the  hterature  and 


*  Roby's  "  Introduction  to  Justinian's  Digest." 

t  See  also  Phillimore's  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Roman  Law," 
and  "Private  Law  among  the  Romans."  Sir  Henry  Maine  says  of 
it :  "  The  Roman  law,  which,  next  to  the  Christian  religion,  is  the  most 
plentiful  source  of  the  rules  governing  actual  conduct  throughout 
Western  Europe." — "  The  Early  History  of  Institutions  "  (Henry 
Holt,  1888),  p.  9.  Also  Maine's  "  Ancient  Law,"  passim. 
I.— 5 


G6  TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

the  history  of  Greece  and  Home  as  standing  on  the  same 
basis  in  their  relations  to  modern  life  :  that  of  impor- 
tance to  the  scholar,  and  of  insignificance  to  the  so-called 
man  of  practical  affairs.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  We 
speak  of  the  authors  of  Greece  and  Eome  as  equally  the 
classics,  and  are  inclined  to  regard  the  language,  insti- 
tutions, and  history  of  each  country  as  equally  dead. 
In  fact,  they  are  all  living,  but  in  a  very  different  sphere 
of  action.  It  has  been  well  said  that  no  language  should 
be  called  dead  which  embalms  living  thoughts.  From 
this  point  of  view  the  Greek  will  never  die,  for  it  is  the 
language  of  poetry,  philosophy,  and  eloquence.  In  these 
departments  it  reigns  supreme,  and  here  the  Roman 
tongue  can  bear  no  comparison  with  it.  Hence  it  was 
that  in  the  revival  of  learning  the  Greek  classics  played 
so  great  a  part  as  re-civilizers  of  the  world.  Some  per- 
sons think  that  their  mission  is  now  accomplished,  and 
that  for  the  future  they  may  be  relegated  to  the  special- 
ists, with  the  authors  of  India  or  Egypt.  Whether  this 
is  so  or  not  we  need  not  here  discuss ;  I  desire  now  simply 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  literature  and  his- 
tory of  Rome  occupy  a  very  different  position.  The 
Greeks  were  poets,  artists,  philosophers ;  the  Romans 
were  essentially  practical  men,  men  of  action,  architects 
of  empires,  law-givers,  moulders  of  institutions. 

From  the  historic  life  of  Greece  the  modern  world  is 
cut  off  as  by  a  broad  deep  sea,  although  one  underlaid 
w^ith  electric  cables  such  as  now  bind  the  continents 
together.  From  Rome,  however,  there  is  no  such  sever- 
ance. When  the  barbaric  hordes  swept  over  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe,  in  one  sense  Rome  went  down,  but  in 
another  she  survived,  for  she  absorbed  the  conquerors, 
gave  them  her  language  and  laws,  and  largely  shaped 
their  institutions.    "  All  roads  lead  to  Rome,"  says  the 


ROME    AND    MODERN    CIVILIZATION  67 

old  motto,  and  historians  are  beginning  to  fully  appre- 
ciate, as  Freeman  has  pointed  out,  that  in  modern  history 
all  roads  also  diverge  from  the  Eternal  City. 

So  long  as  the  centuries  which  succeeded  the  downfall 
of  Rome  were  regarded  as  periods  of  almost  abysmal 
darkness,  sharply  dividing  ancient  from  modern  civiliza- 
tion and  thus  unworthy  of  the  attention  of  the  scholar, 
this  connection  was  of  course  unrecognized.  In  fact,  in 
our  school  systems  the  study  of  Roman  history  formerly 
ended  with  the  foundation  of  the  Empire.  As  for  Gib- 
bon, whose  magnificent  work,  although  incomplete  and 
corrected  in  many  places  by  later  investigations,  still 
stands  as  a  vast  monument  of  erudition,  it  was  the 
fashion  to  regard  the  author  as  an  enemy  of  religion, 
and  his  history  as  a  book  to  be  kept  from  the  hands  of 
the  immature.  The  result  has  been  that  the  past  gen- 
eration had,  in  general,  but  vague  notions  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  regarding  it  as  the  home  of  tyranny  and  universal 
corruption,  and  its  barbarian  successors  as  something 
like  a  devastating  flood  which  swept  away  all  that  the 
world  had  ever  known  of  law,  order,  and  civilization. 

One  of  the  chief  instruments  in  removing  this  erro- 
neous impression  has  been  the  study  of  the  Roman  law, 
as  carried  on  in  the  Continental  universities.  For  many 
years  it  was  believed  that  the  Pandects  of  Justinian  had 
been  lost  for  centuries,  and  were  only  discovered  at 
Amalfi  in  1137.  This  theory  has  been  thoroughly  ex- 
ploded, and  the  fact  established  that  they  were  never 
lost,  but  were  always  studied  and  became  the  chief  fac- 
tor in  moulding  the  jurisprudence  of  the  new  kingdoms 
of  the  Continent.*    The  other  theorv,  that  Rome,  under 


*  "History  of  the  Roman  Law  during  the  Middle  Ages,"  M.  de 
Savigny. 


68  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

the  Empire,  was  the  cesspool  of  corruption  depicted  by 
some  of  her  historians  and  satirists  has  also  been  shown 
to  be  unfounded.* 

The  Roman  law  took  its  form  mainly  in  the  first  three 
centuries  of  the  Empire.  A  portion  of  this  period  is 
described  by  Gibbon,  in  language  of  great  significance, 
as  the  world's  true  golden  age.f 

Those  were  what  we  call  heathen  times,  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that,  before  this  law  was  codified  for 
future  generations,  Rome  had  accepted  Christianity,  and 
under  its  influence  great  and  beneficial  changes  had 
been  introduced,  chief  among  which  were  those  relat- 
ing to  the  rights  and  position  of  women  and  minors. 
In  the  sixth  century,  from  529  to  565,  Justinian  gath- 
ered up  all  that  was  considered  valuable  in  the  old  and 
new  systems,  and  gave  to  the  world  the  compilations 


*  "  History  of  Rome  and  the  Roman  Peoi)le,"  Victor  Duruy,  vi. 
309,  etc. 

t  "If  a  man  were  called  upon  to  fix  the  period  in  the  history  of 
the  world  during  which  the  condition  of  the  human  race  was  most 
happy  and  prosperous,  he  would  without  hesitation  name  that  which 
elapsed  from  the  death  of  Domitian  to  the  accession  of  Commodus. 
The  vast  extent  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  governed  by  absolute 
power  under  the  guidance  of  virtue  and  wisdom.  The  armies  were 
restrained  by  the  firm  but  gentle  hand  of  five  successive  emperors, 
"v\'hose  character  and  authority  commanded  involuntary  respect. 
The  forms  of  the  civil  administration  were  carefully  preserved  by 
Nerva,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  and  the  Antonines,  who  delighted  in  the 
image  of  liberty  and  were  pleased  with  considering  themselves  as 
the  accountable  ministers  of  the  laws." — Gibbon,  vol.  i.  chap.  iii. 
See  as  to  Trajan's  time,  the  Letters  of  the  younger  Pliny.  One  of 
these  emperors,  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  has  left  for  posterity  his 
ideas  as  to  life  and  its  conduct.  Nowhere  can  a  nobler  philosophy 
be  found,  inculcating,  as  it  does,  self-control,  self-abnegation,  benev- 
olence, charity,  and  toleration. 


THE    CIVIL   LAW   AND   THE    COMMON   LAW  69 

which,  ever  since  studied  upon  the  Continent,  have  been 
the  dehght  and  wonder  not  alone  of  the  jurist,  but  of 
the  philosopher  and  moralist  as  well.  What  compari- 
son could  be  expected,  when  men  put  aside  their  petty 
prejudices,  between  such  a  system  and  that  of  the  un- 
cultured pagan  savages  w^ho  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
English  Common  Law?  From  these  suggestions  the 
reader  who  is  not  a  lawyer  can  perhaps  understand  w^hy 
it  is  that  American  students  who  desire  to  obtain  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  jurisprudence  go  to  Germany  to 
study  the  Civil  Law.* 


.  *  Tlie  unprofessional  readei-  can  scarcely  ajDpreciate  the  rapid 
changes  in  our  legal  system  now  in  progress,  mainly  attributable 
to  the  fact  that  we  have  cut  loose  from  England,  from  English  modes 
of  thought  and  courses  of  study.  At  the  250th  anniversary  of  Har- 
vard College,  Judge  Oliver  Wendell  Homes,  .Jr.,  of  Massachusetts, 
made  a  notable  address  before  the  Law  School  Association.  Speak- 
ing of  Judge  Story,  who  was  a  great  student  of  the  Civil  Law,  and 
who,  he  said,  has  done  more  than  any  other  English-speaking  man 
in  this  century  to  make  the  law  luminous  and  easy  to  understand, 
he  remarked :  "  But  Story's  simple  philosophizing  has  ceased  to  sat- 
isfy men's  minds.  I  think  it  might  be  said  with  safety  that  no  man 
of  his  or  of  the  succeeding  generation  could  have  stated  the  law  in  a 
form  that  deserved  to  abide,  because  neitlier  his  nor  the  succeediuo- 
generation  possessed  or  could  have  possessed  the  historical  knowl- 
edge, had  made  or  could  have  made  the  analyses  of  principles,  which 
are  necessary  before  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  law  can  be  known 
and  understood  in  their  precise  contours  and  in  their  innermost 
meanings. 

"  This  new  work  is  now  being  done.  Under  the  influence  of  Ger- 
many, science  is  gradually  drawing  legal  history  into  its  sphere.  The 
facts  are  being  scrutinized  by  eyes  microscopic  in  intensity  and  jjau- 
oramic  in  scope.  At  the  same  time,  under  the  influence  of  our  re- 
vived interest  in  philosophical  speculation,  a  thousand  heads  are  an- 
alyzing and  generalizing  the  rules  of  law  and  the  ground  on  which 
they  stand.     The  law  has  got  to  be  stated  over  again,  and  I  venture 


70         THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

How  America  has  led  England  in  some  of  the  more 
salient  legal  reforms  can  be  seen  from  a  few  examples. 
When  the  American  States  adopted  their  first  constitu- 
tions, five  of  them  contained  a  provision  that  every 
person  accused  of  crime  was  to  be  allowed  counsel  for 
his  defence.  The  same  right  was,  in  1791,  granted  for 
all  America  in  the  first  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  This  would  seem  to  be  an  ele- 
mentary principle  of  justice,  but  it  was  not  adopted  in 
England  until  nearly  half  a  century  later,  and  then  only 
after  a  bitter  struggle,  to  which  I  shall  refer  hereafter. 
Somewhat  akin  to  this  is  the  reverse  principle  prevail- 
ing in  the  United  States,  that  in  criminal  trials  the  gov- 
ernment shall  in  every  county  be  represented  by  a  sj)ecial 
public  prosecutor,  generally  called  a  district  attorney. 
ISTothing  of  this  kind  is  known  in  England,  even  at  the 
present  day,  although  the  introduction  of  the  system  has 
been  frequently  advocated  by  the  highest  authorities. 
The  last  American  reform  in  criminal  law  is  that  of 
allowing  prisoners  to  testify  in  their  own  behalf.  This 
is  also  now  advocated  in  England.* 

In  civil  matters,  the  greatest  reform  of  modern  times 
has  been  the  simplification  of  procedure  in  the  courts, 
and  the  virtual  amalgamation  of  law  and  equity.  Here 
again  America  took  the  lead,  through  the  adoption  by 
'New  York,  in  1848,  of  a  Code  of  Practice,  which  has 
been  followed  by  most  of  the  other  states  of  the  Union, 
and  in  its  main  features  has  lately  been  taken  up  by  Eng- 
land. In  the  same  manner  have  come  about  the  reforms 
in  the  laws  relating  to  married  women,  by  which  a  whole 

to  say  that  in  fifty  years  we  shall  have  it  in  a  form  of  which  no  man 
could  have  dreamed  fifty  years  ago." 

*  See  article  by  Justice  J.  F.  Stephen,  Nineteenth  Century^  Oct., 
1886. 


THE  LEGAL  EMANCIPATION  OF  WOMEN  71 

sex  has  been  emancipated.  According  to  the  old  Eng~ 
lish  theory,  a  woman  was  a  chattel,  all  of  whose  property- 
belonged  to  her  husband.  He  could  beat  her  as  he  might 
a  beast  of  burden,  and,  provided  that  he  w^as  not  guilty 
of  what  would  be  cruelty  to  animals,  the  law  gave  no 
redress.  In  the  emancipation  of  women  Mississippi  led 
off,  in  1839,  New  York  following  with  its  Married  Wom- 
en's Act  of  1848,  which  has  been  since  so  enlarged  and 
extended,  and  so  generally  adopted  by  the  other  states, 
that,  for  all  purposes  of  business,  ownership  of  property, 
and  claim  to  her  individual  earnings,  a  married  woman 
is  to-day,  in  America,  as  independent  as  a  man.  In  some 
respects  we  are  still  behind  the  Continental  nations  of 
Europe,  w4iich  recognize  the  oneness  of  man  and  wife  by 
providing  that  a  husband  shall  not  will  away  his  prop- 
erty from  the  woman  w^ho  has  aided  in  its  acquisition. 
That  law,  and  the  further  one  that  a  man  shall  not  dis- 
inherit his  children  without  just  cause,  both  derived  from 
the  jurisprudence  of  Rome,  will  come  in  time ;  but  for 
no  such  reforms,  either  past  or  present,  need  we  look  to 
English  precedents. 

With  the  law  we  may  close  for  the  present  our  com- 
parison of  English  and  American  institutions.  The 
contrast  between  them  is  so  striking  that  the  deriva- 
tion of  one  from  the  other  seems  almost  incredible. 
Nor  is  this  contrast  the  result  of  any  recent  change  in 
either  country.  As  we  have  seen,  it  reaches  back  to 
the  first  settlement  of  New  England,  and  has  developed 
simply  on  its  original  lines.  Here  the  spirit  of  the  insti- 
tutions has  always  pointed  to  equality  and  the  elevation 
of  all  classes  through  the  machinery  of  the  government. 
In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  with  rare  exceptions  un- 
til very  modern  times,  the  government  has  been  conduct- 
ed in  the  interest  of  the  so-called  upper  classes — that  is, 


73  THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

the  few  persons  whose  ancestors  took  possession  of  the 
land,  the  church,  the  machinery  of  the  courts,  the  legis- 
lature, and  the  executive,  and  those  who,  in  later  days, 
have  acquired  wealth  by  trade. "-^  The  people  have  never 
been  recognized,  except  for  the  few  years  when  the  Pu- 
ritans held  sway.  The  striking  fact  to-day  is,  that  the 
masses  are  rising  up,  and  are  bound  to  make  their  long- 
buried  grievances  acknowledged.  The  new  England  to 
be  evolved  from  the  coming  change  may  not  be  so  pict- 
uresque ;  for  vast  estates  and  lordly  castles,  set  off  by 
moss-covered  noisome  hovels  and  troops  of  beggars,  do 
certainly  form  picturesque  objects  in  a  landscape ;  but 
the  general  happiness,  the  object  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, may  be  the  gainer.f 

Much  we  owe  to  England,  and  the  debt  will  never  be 
ignored  or  outlawed.  We  have  her  vigorous  language, 
are  sharers  of  her  noble  literature,  have  many  of  her 
customs  and  modes  of  thought,  and  claim  to  inherit 
some  of  her  indomitable  energy,  practical  sagacity,  hab- 
its of  organization,  and  general  love  of  fair  play  and 
open  speech.  In  little  things,  too,  often  regarded  as 
peculiar  to  America,  we  are  only  preserving  old  Eng- 
lish forms  and  customs.  For  example,  when  a  vigi- 
lance committee  in  the  South  or  West  decorate  an  ob- 
noxious stranger  with  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers,  they 


*  One  of  these  rare  exceptions  occurred  iu  tlie  reign  of  Henry  VIII., 
■u'lio,  however  he  may  have  trampled  on  the  rich  and  jiowerful,  en- 
deared himself  to  the  people  at  large,  to  an  extent  whicli  the  pres- 
ent generation  find  it  difficult  to  understand,  by  his  protection  of  the 
poor.     Gneist's  "Hist,  of  the  English  Constitution,"  ii.  187. 

t  The  coming  change  in  England  will  probably  be  a  peaceful  one, 
for  the  practical  Englishmen,  unlike  some  of  their  neighbors,  have 
a  happy  faculty  of  solving  political  problems  when  their  solution 
becomes  imperative. 


ORIGIN   OF   AMERICAN    INSTITUTIONS  73 

are  only  exercising  a  form  of  English  hospitality  prac- 
tised in  the  seventeenth  century.*  When  the  Yankee 
says  "  I  guess,"  he  is  but  using  the  English  of  Chau- 
cer and  Shakespeare.f  So  when  he  speaks  of  "fall"  in- 
stead of  autumn,  he  is  following  Dryden.:}:  In  calling 
a  person  "homely"  instead  of  plain,  he  has  the  war- 
rant of  ]VIilton.§  So  "  whittle  "  is  found  to  be  old ;  || 
" slick "  also,^[  "freshet,"**  and  many  other  so-called 
Americanisms. 

There  is  no  danger  of  the  reader's  underestimating  the 
influence  of  England  upon  America,  or  the  great  virtues 
of  the  English  people.  But  these  subjects,  important  as 
they  are  in  themselves,  have  no  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion which  I  have  undertaken  to  discuss — ^the  origin 
of  our  republican  institutions.  These  institutions  have 
moulded,  and  will  serve  hereafter  to  mould,  the  na- 
tion's life.  The  questions  how  and  whence  they  came 
to  America  should  interest  not  alone  the  scholar,  but 
every  one  who  cares  for  the  future  of  his  country.  The 
past  holds  for  us  something  beyond  the  mere  pleasure 
of  a  romance.     It  lays  before  us  as  a  lesson  the  experi- 


*  Int.  to  Lowell's  "  Biglovv  Papers,"  vol.  ii. 
t        "  Of  twenty  yere  of  age  he  was,  I  gesse." — Chaucer. 

"Better  far,  I  guess, 
That  we  do  make  our  entrance  several  ways." 

"  1st  Part  Henry  VI.,"  act  ii.  so.  1. 
J  "  What  crowds  of  patients  the  town  doctor  kills  ; 

Or  how  last  fall  he  raised  the  weekly  bills." 
§  "  It  is  for  homely  features  to  keep  home. 

They  had  their  name  hence." — Milton,  "Comus." 
II  In  "  Hakewith  on  Providence,"  1627,  given  by  Johnson. 
IF  Used  by  Chapman,  1603,  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  and  Fuller. 
**  "  All  fisli  from  sea  or  shore, 

Freshet  or  purling  brook." — Milton. 


74         THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

ence  of  other  nations ;  of  those  alone  who  have  the  sa- 
gacity to  profit  by  that  experience  can  it  be  said  that 
"  histories  make  men  wise." 

m 

The  method  in  which  this  subject  has  been  heretofore 
generally  treated  is  familiar  to  every  reader,  and  it  is  a 
method  which  has  at  least  the  merit  of  simplicity,  obvi- 
ating the  necessity  of  all  original  investigation.  Look- 
ing back  at  American  literature,  we  find  that,  to  all  ques- 
tions regarding  the  origin  of  our  un-English  institutions, 
the  stock-answer  has  been  returned,  that  they  were  in- 
vented by  those  mysterious  and  inspired  prophetic  souls 
w^ho  founded  Massachusetts.  Of  all  the  fabled  heroes 
of  antiquity,  architects  of  empires,  or  benefactors  of  the 
human  race,  none,  in  popular  opinion,  have  ever  equalled 
in  depth  of  thought  and  fecundity  of  invention  the  plain 
artisans  and  farmers  who  crossed  the  ocean  in  the  Ifay- 
fiowei\  or  those  who  followed  them  in  the  next  few  years. 
What  a  marvellous  magician's  bath  the  Atlantic  must 
have  been  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  when  even  a 
sail  across  its  waters  could  work  such  miracles  !  If  any 
other  nation  succeeds  in  originating  a  single  great  in- 
stitution in  an  ordinary  lifetime,  it  gains  historic  fame. 
In  this  case,  the  mere  voyage  from  England  sufficed,  we 
are  expected  to  believe,  for  the  invention  of  at  least  three 
of  the  first  magnitude. 

At  the  head  of  the  list  stands  the  free-school  system  of 
the  United  States.  For  this  claim  we  have  the  authority 
of  James  Russell  Lowell,  who  calls  it  the  invention  of  our 
Puritan  ancestors  in  Massachusetts.'^'  The  second  is  the 
township  system.  This  also  originated  in  the  same  quar- 
ter, according  to  Palfrey,  the  historian   of  New  Eng- 


*  Essay  on  "  New  England  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago,"  Among 
My  Books. 


THEIR   REPUTED    ORIGIN  75 

land.*  The  third  is  the  system  of  recording  deeds  and 
mortgages.  This  also  is  claimed  to  have  been  devised 
in  America,  presumably  in  Massachusetts.f  As  the  set- 
tlers of  New  England  certainly  did  possess  these  impor- 
tant institutions,  while  the  Englishmen  at  home  as  cer- 
tainly did  not,  the  inference  that  they  were  invented  in 
America  is  a  natural  one,  if  we  set  out  with  the  assump- 
tion that  England  is  the  only  other  country  in  the  world. 
However,  a  little  light  is  thrown  upon  the  subject  Avhen 
we  learn  that  free  schools  existed,  not  only  among  the 
Komans,  but  among  the  Moors  nine  centuries  ago;  that 
the  township  system  prevailed  in  Central  Asia  probably 
before  the  dispersion  of  the  human  race,  and  now  exists 
in  upper  India;  and  that  deeds  were  recorded  in  Egypt 
long  before  the  Christian  era. 

These  are  but  specimens  of  American  institutions, 
and  simple  illustrations  of  the  ordinary  mode  of  dealing 
with  their  history  by  modern  writers,  for  we  may  notice 
that  our  ancestors  never  made  such  claims.  Some  per- 
sons might  think  that  it  was  characteristic  Yankee  tall- 
talk,  indulged  in  only  among  uneducated  people,  to  credit 
their  origin  to  Massachusetts  and  to  transplanted  Eng- 
lishmen ;  but  this,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  incor- 
rect. Most  English  and  all  American  histories  have 
been  written  after  the  same  model.:}; 


*  i.  275. 

t  "New  American  Cyclopsedia,"  article  "Recording." 
I  Another  example  will  illustrate  this  even  more  fully.  In  1836, 
Edward  Everett  delivered  an  address  in  commemoration  of  the  two 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  Harvard  College.  Refer- 
ring to  tlie  appropriation  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  of 
the  sum  of  four  hundred  pounds  for  the  establishment  of  tliat  insti- 
tution, he  said :  "  I  must  appeal  to  gentlemen  around  me,  whether 
before  the  year  1636  they  know  of  such  a  thing  as  a  grant  of  money 


76  THE  PURITAN   IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  remarkable  ;  for  to  persons 
accustomed  from  early  education  never  to  look  beyond 
Great  Britain  for  anything  American,  our  institutions, 
when  not  recognized  as  English,  may  well  seem  to  be 
originaL  In  addition  is  the  fact  that  such  a  mode  of 
dealing  with  one's  ancestors  has,  until  a  recent  date, 
seemed  patriotic  among  all  nations.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
however,  that  to  the  present  generation,  extending  its 
researches  in  all  directions,  these  institutions  will  not  be 
less  dear  or  less  important  because  found  to  have  about 
them  some  of  the  halo  of  republican  antiquity,  reaching 
back  further  than  the  voyage  of  the  immortsil  J/ayJIowe?'. 

We  speak  of  this  as  the  "  new  world,"  but  geologically 
it  is  the  old.  Modern  scientists,  in  studying  the  records 
furnished  by  the  rocks,  have  discovered  that  it  was  in 
being  when  Europe  was  submerged  beneath  the  waves. 


by  the  English  House  of  Commons  to  found  or  endow  a  place  of  edu- 
cation. I  think  there  is  no  such  grant  before  tliat  period,  nor  till 
long  after;  and  therefore  I  believe  it  is  strictly  within  the  bounds  of 
truth  to  say  that  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  which  met  in 
September,  1636,  is  the  first  body  in  which  the  people  by  their  repre- 
sentatives ever  gave  their  own  money  to  found  a  place  of  education." 
The  same  kind  of  language  was  used  at  the  250th  anniversary  in  1886. 
No  such  tiling  being  known  in  England,  therefore  it  never  existed. 
"We  shall  see  hereafter  how,  half  a  century  before  the  time  of  which 
Mr.  Everett  spoke,  the  people  of  Holland,  through  their  represent- 
atives, had  given  all  the  buildings  and  a  magnificent  endowment 
for  the  establishment  of  two  free  universities,  one  of  which  (that  of 
Leyden)  is  among  the  most  distinguished  in  the  world.  Many  of 
the  men  who  settled  in  Massachusetts  came  from  Leyden,  and  Har- 
vard College  itself  was  established  on  land  settled  by  colonists  led 
by  Tliomas  Hooker,  a  refugee  English  preacher  who  had  lived  in 
Holland  for  three  years.  Strange  enough  such  language  as  that  of 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  would  have  sounded  to  the  men.  who 
made  the  grant  of  four  hundred  pounds. 


ANTIQUITY   OF   AMERICAN   INSTITUTIONS  77 

So  of  our  system  of  government.  The  political  move- 
ments of  the  last  century  have  worked  such  changes 
across  the  ocean  that  to-day  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  almost  the  oldest  in  existence  outside 
of  Asia.  But  our  leading  institutions  go  back  much 
further.  When  historians  come  to  study  them,  as  they 
have  studied  dynasties,  they  will  find  that  here  also 
America  is  the  old  and  much  of  Europe  the  new  bar- 
baric world.  In  the  construction  of  the  republic,  our 
fathers  had  the  same  advantages  which  a  man  of  fortune 
possesses  who  sets  out  to  build  a  new  house.  Although 
not  rich  in  gold,  they  were  the  heirs  of  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  ages.  They  were  hampered  by  no  old  structure 
to  be  modernized,  and  by  no  old  materials  to  be  put  to 
use.  A  continent  lay  before  them  on  which  to  build ; 
the  whole  world  was  their  quarry,  and  all  the  past  their 
architects.  They  showed  marvellous  skill,  wisdom,  and 
foresight  in  the  selection  of  their  plans,  in  the  choice  of 
their  materials,  and  in  their  methods  of  construction. 
All  this  is  honor  enough,  without  endowing  them  with 
the  lamp  of  an  Aladdin  or  the  wand  of  a  magician. 

Taking  the  word  in  its  broad  sense,  the  institutions  of 
America  are  largely  Puritan,  so  that  we  must  look  to  the 
growth  of  Puritanism  to  understand  their  introduction. 
But  when  we  seek  for  their  origin,  we  should  send  our 
thoughts  far  beyond  the  little  island  of  England  or  the 
narrow  confines  of  Massachusetts.  N^ational  institutions 
are  like  great  trees  standing  in  a  field,  which,  though 
showing  only  a  trunk  and  branches  above  the  surface, 
have  another  frame  as  large  spreading  through  the  soil 
below.  Those  of  America  shelter  to-day  over  sixty 
million  people.  Their  roots  are  too  large  to  be  contained 
in  any  one  small  quarter  of  the  globe. 

Two  great  elements  have  contributed  to  make  Amer- 


78  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

ica  what  it  is :  one,  the  civilization  of  ancient  Rome, 
with  its  genius  for  government  and  its  instinct  for 
justice  and  equal  rights ;  the  other,  the  strong  wild 
blood  of  the  Germanic  race,  with  its  passion  for  indi- 
vidual freedom,  which  has  given  nerve,  energy,  and 
strength  to  modern  Europe.  The  first  of  these  elements 
was  utterly  extinguished  in  England  by  the  Anglo-Saxon 
conquest,  while  the  feudal  system  afterwards  came  in 
to  rob  the  Germanic  conquerors  of  many  of  their  early 
ideas  regarding  civil  liberty. 

One  country  alone  in  Northern  Europe  was  largely 
free  from  both  this  devastation  and  this  blight.  There 
the  civilization  of  Rome  was  never  extinguished,  and 
the  feudal  system  took  but  feeble  root.  The  people 
were  of  Germanic  blood,  and  preserved  more  purely 
than  any  others  their  Germanic  ideas  and  institutions ; 
but  engrafted  on  them  were  the  arts,  the  learning,  and 
the  laws  derived  from  communication  with  civilized 
and  civilizing  Italy.  To  the  patriot,  to  the  lover  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  as  well  as  to  the  student  of  art  and 
science  in  any  land,  the  history  of  this  republican  country 
must  always  have  a  peculiar  charm.  But,  apart  from  its 
general  features,  this  history  is  so  interwoven  with  that 
of  England  and  America  that  any  one  concerned  with 
the  past  of  either  of  these  countries  w411  find  it  a  subject 
of  unfailing  interest. 

When  modern  Englishmen  set  out  to  write  the  history 
of  their  country,  they  cross  the  Channel  and  describe 
the  Angles  and  the  Saxons  in  their  early  home  upon  the 
Continent.*  That  home  was  so  near  to  the  ISTetherlands 
that  the  people  of  Holland  and  the  conquerors  of  Britain 


*  See  Green's  "Making  of  England,"  Stubb's  "  Constitutional  His- 
tory," etc. 


])EBT    OF    ENGLAND    TO    TUB    NETHERLANDS  79 

spoke  substantially  the  same  language,  and  were  almost 
of  one  blood.  To  the  Englishman,  thinking  only  of  the 
greatness  of  his  own  land,  this  original  relationship  may 
seem  sufficient  honor  for  a  tiny  fragment  of  the  earth's 
surface  not  as  large  as  Switzerland,  but  it  is  only  the 
first  chapter  of  the  story.  For  hundreds  of  years  in 
later  times,  and  until  long  after  the  settlement  of  Amer- 
ica, the  Netherlands  stood  as  the  guide  and  instructor 
of  England  in  almost  everything  which  has  made  her 
materially  great.  "When  the  Reformation  came  in  which 
Northwestern  Europe  was  new^-born,  it  was  the  Nether- 
lands which  led  the  van,  and  for  eighty  years  w^aged  the 
war  which  disenthralled  the  souls  of  men.  Out  of  that 
conflict,  shared  by  thousands  of  heroic  Englishmen,  but 
in  w^hich  England  as  a  nation  hardly  had  a  place,  Puri- 
tanism was  evolved — the  Puritanism  which  gave  its 
triumph  to  the  Netherland  Republic,  and  has  shaped  the 
character  of  the  English-speaking  race. 

In  time,  England  came  to  hate  the  benefactor  to  whom 
she  owed  so  much,  and  some  of  her  people  have  repaid 
their  debt  in  a  manner  not  uncommon  in  such  cases. 
Thus,  after  the  Restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  and  still 
more  after  the  Tory  reaction  which  followed  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  the  political  writers  about  the  court 
habitually  ridiculed  the  Dutchmen  for  virtues  which 
they  could  not  understand.  The  republican  Hollander 
thought  it  a  disgrace  to  have  his  wife  or  daughter  de- 
bauched by  a  king  or  noble.  The  courtiers  about 
Charles  II.  viewed  this  subject  differently,  and  regarded 
the  Dutchman  as  ill-mannered  for  his  want  of  taste.* 


*  In  Holland,  -where  he  passed  part  of  his  days  of  exile,  Charles 
and  his  courtiers  were  constantly  and  openly  rebuked  for  their  licen- 
tious and  profligate  habits.     These  rebukes  were  as  little  relished 


80         THE    PURITAN    IN    UOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Added  to  this  were  the  Hollander's  respect  for  the  pri- 
vate rights  of  all  classes ;  his  devotion  to  art  and  learn- 
ing ;  his  love  of  fair  dealing  in  personal  and  in  public 
matters  ;  his  industry,  frugality ;  and,  finally,  his  univer- 
sal toleration.  A  man  with  these  traits  of  character,  al- 
though sympathetic  with  the  English  Puritan  on  many 
points,  was  hardly  comprehensible  to  the  ruling  classes 
in  England  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago.  No  one  could 
deny  the  Dutchmen's  courage,  for  they  were  among  the 
boldest  soldiers  and  sailors  that  the  world  has  ever  seen ; 
but  they  were  not  gentlemen  from  the  aristocratic  point 
of  view. 

As  for  the  Englishmen  of  the  Eestoration,  one  little 
incident  will  illustrate  what  they  thought  high  breed- 
ing. Sir  William  Temple,  as  is  well  known,  was  one  • 
of  the  most  elegant  and  accomplished  gentlemen  at  the 
Court  of  Charles  II. — a  wit  among  the  courtiers,  and  a 
courtier  among  the  wits.*  Being  sent  as  ambassador 
to  The  Hague,  he  fortunately  jotted  down  some  of  his 
experiences,  and  among  others  the  following.  Dining 
one  day  with  the  Chief  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam, 
and  having  a  severe  cold,  he  noticed  that  every  time 
he  spit  on  the  floor,  while  at  table,  a  tight,  handsome 
wench,  who  stood  in  a  corner  holding  a  cloth,  got  down 
on  her  knees  and  wiped  it  up.  Seeing  this,  he  turned 
to  his  host  and  apologized  for  the  trouble  which  he  gave, 
receiving  the  jocular  response,  "  It  is  well  for  you  that 

and  as  little  forgiven  by  the  "merry  monarch "  as  was  the  stern  dis- 
cipline to  which  he  was  subjected  in  Scotland  during  his  early  life. 
Rogers's  "  Story  of  Holland,"  p.  257 ;  Davies,  iii.  12.  No  reader 
needs  to  be  reminded  how  many  of  the  noble  families  of  England 
are  descended  from  illegitimate  scions  of  royalty,  and  how  they  prize 
their  ancestry. 

*  Macaulay's  Essays,  "  Sir  William  Temple." 


ENGLISH  ANTIPATHY  TO  THE  DUTCH  81 

my  wife  is  not  home,  for  she  would  have  turned  you 
out  of  the  house  for  soiling  her  floor,  although  you 
are  the  English  ambassador."  This  incident,  he  says, 
"  illustrates  the  authority  of  women  in  Holland."  That 
it  conveyed  no  other  lesson  to  his  mind  gives  us  a  bet- 
ter idea  of  the  manners  of  the  English  upper  classes 
two  centuries  ago  than  pages  of  description.*  Hallam, 
writing  of  England  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  says : 
"  Hypocritical  adulation  was  so  much  among  the  vices 
of  that  age,  that  the  want  of  it  passed  for  rudeness."  f 
It  was  this  form  of  rudeness  in  the  Hollander,  and  not 
what  would  be  called  bad  manners  to-day,  that  was  found 
objectionable  by  the  English. 

"When  we  now  remember  that  England  and  Holland 
became  commercial  rivals,  and  that  England  has  never 
scrupled  at  anything  to  crush  out  a  competitor,  we  need 
not  wonder  at  the  national  prejudice  towards  the  Dutch- 
man, whose  virtues,  developed  under  a  republic,  were  a 
standing  protest  against  a  government  for  the  upper 
classes  alone.  In  1673,  Chancellor  Shaftesbury,  in  an 
address  to  Parliament,  summed  up  the  whole  case  against 
Holland.  It  was  an  enemy  of  all  monarchies,  especially 
the  English;  their  only  competitor  in  commerce  and 
naval  power,  and  the  chief  obstacle  to  the  universal  do- 
minion which  England  should  aim  at :  Delenda  esto  Car- 
thago.    Such  a  government  must  be  destroyed.;}: 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  origin  of  the  Englishman's 
antipathy  to  the  Dutch;  an  antipathy  which  in  great 

*  "Memoirs  of  what  Passed  in  Christendom  from  1672  to  1679  " 
Sir  William  Temple's  Works,  ii.  458.  See  also  Felltham's  "  Re- 
solves;" "Observations  on  the  Lovr  Countries,"  12th  ed.  (London, 
1709),  p.  609. 

t  "Const.  Hist."i.  277. 

X  "  Parlt.  Hist."  vol.  iv.  col.  504,  cited  by  Davies. 


82  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

measure  had  led  to  a  general  disparagement  of  this  peo- 
ple, and  thus  to  obscuring  the  truth  of  history ;  although 
to  such  an  exhibition  of  national  prejudice  there  have 
always  been  illustrious  exceptions.* 

That  the  American  of  English  descent  should,  in  for- 
mer times,  have  shown  some  of  this  prejudice  is  in  no 
ways  remarkable,  since  he  knew  little  of  the  facts.  But 
his  indulgence  in  the  disparagement  at  the  present  day, 
wdien  all  the  records  are  accessible,  is  a  A^ery  different 
matter,  for  it  is  to  the  country  of  this  republican  people, 


*  What  some  of  the  able  Englishmen  of  the  seventeenth  century 
thought  of  them  will  be  shown  in  a  late  chapter.  As  to  those  of 
modern  times,  the  first  whom  we  may  notice  is  Samuel  Rogers,  the 
poet.  He,  in  the  notes  to  his  "  Italy,"  joays  a  high  tribute  to  the 
Dutch  Republic,  as  superior  to  Venice,  saying  that  it  produced 
"  not  only  the  greatest  seamen,  but  the  greatest  lawyers,  the  greatest 
physicians,  the  most  accomplislied  scholars,  the  most  skilful  paint- 
ers, and  statesmen  as  wise  as  they  were  just."  Hallam,  an  able  and 
certainly  not  a  prejudiced  judge,  says  that  Holland,  "at  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  was  pre-emi- 
nently the  literary  country  of  Europe,"  and  all  through  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  the  peculiarly  learned  country  also.  The  Dutch 
\vere  "  a  great  people,  a  people  fertile  of  men  of  various  ability  and 
erudition,  a  peoj^le  of  scholars,  of  theologians  and  philosophers,  of 
mathematicians,  of  historians,  and  we  may  add  of  poets." — Hallam's 
"  Literature  of  Europe,"  iii.  278,  iv.  59.  J^Iacaulay,  writing  of  the 
period  just  before  the  English  revolution  of  1688,  says  that  the  aspect 
of  Holland  "  produced  on  English  travellers  of  that  age  an  effect 
similar  to  the  effect  which  tlie  first  sight  of  England  now  produces  on 
a  Norwegian  or  a  Canadian."  "  History  of  England,"  chap.  ii.  Still 
fuller  is  the  tribute  of  the  last  English  writer  upon  Holland,  a  mem- 
ber of  Parliament  and  a  professor  of  political  economy  at  Oxford. 
He  claims  that  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  and  the  success  of  Hol- 
land is  the  beginning  of  modern  civilization,  the  Dutch  having 
taught  Europe  nearly  everything  which  it  knows.  "The  Story  of 
Holland,"  by  James  E.  Thorold  Rogers,  pp.  10,  11. 


IMPORTANCE    OF    NETHERLAND    HISTORY  83 

in  many  respects  so  like  his  own,  but  so  different  from 
England,  that  he  must  turn  if  he  would  understand  the 
making  of  the  United  States, 

ISTor  is  it  only  to  the  republicans  of  America  or  the 
students  of  the  past  that  this  country  is  of  interest. 
The  story  of  the  rise  and  development  of  the  Nether- 
lands should  be  known  to  every  one  who  cares  about 
the  political,  social,  and  economic  questions  which  now 
ag-itate  the  world.  Does  one  wish  to  see  what  local 
self-government  can  do  for  a  people,  nowhere  can  he 
find  a  better  example  of  its  strength  than  in  the  cities 
which  made  up  the  great  Netherland  Kepublic.  Does 
he,  on  the  other  hand,  wish  to  see  the  weakness  of  a 
federation  in  which  the  general  government  does  not 
deal  directly  with  the  citizen,  but  only  with  organic 
bodies  of  the  State ;  nowhere,  not  even  in  the  confed- 
eration w^hich  preceded  our  American  Union,  Avill  he 
find  a  better  illustration  than  that  afforded  by  the 
same  republic  in  its  early  days.  When  we  turn  to 
other  questions,  social  and  economic,  a  still  broader 
field  is  opened  up.  The  history  of  this  country,  when 
rightly  understood,  probably  disposes  of  more  popular 
delusions  and  throws  more  light  upon  the  future  of 
democracy  than  that  of  any  other  country  in  the  world. 
However,  as  it  has  been  the  interest  of  the  so-called 
upper  classes  to  foster  these  delusions,  perhaps  we  should 
not  wonder  at  the  little  attention  bestowed  upon  this 
histor}'-. 

What,  for  example,  becomes  of  the  standing  argu- 
ments for  an  aristocracy  and  for  men  of  leisure  Avhen 
we  turn  on  them  the  light  from  Holland?  English 
writers  are  accustomed  to  tell  us  that  art  and  science 
owe  their  encouragement  to  the  existence  of  the  noble 
orders,  and  that  but  for  their  example  fine  manners  and 


84         THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

lofty  thought  Avould  vanish  from  the  earth,  Nowhere 
can  be  found  a  better  illustration  of  the  defective  rea- 
soning which  draws  general  conclusions  from  insufficient 
data.  In  England,  this  has  appeared  to  be  the  fact, 
because  in  that  country  the  aristocracy  have  largely 
absorbed  the  wealth  and  education  which  enable  men 
to  foster  art  and  science.  Yet  England,  until  a  very 
recent  day  at  least,  has  done  almost  nothing  for  art, 
and  in  science  and  deep  scholarship  could  never  be  com- 
pared with  Holland  in  her  palmy  days.  But  Holland 
owed  her  pre-eminence  in  these  departments,  not  to  an 
aristocracy,  nor  even  to  a  moneyed  class  whose  inher- 
ited wealth  led  them  to  abstain  from  business.  The  men 
■who  sustained  her  painters  and  musicians,  who  fostered 
science  and  broad  learning,  were  the  plain  burghers  in 
the  cities,  merchants,  and  manufacturers,  men  w^hom 
Queen  Elizabeth  called  "base  mechanicals,"  who  aU 
worked  themselves,  and  by  example  or  by  precept  taught 
that  labor  alone  is  honorable.  In  this  connection  a  sin- 
gle incident  will  show  how  mathematics  were  cultivated 
in  the  ISTetherlands. 

In  161Y,  a  young  French  soldier,  serving  in  the  Dutch 
army,  was  passing  through  the  streets  of  Breda.  A 
crowd  was  gathered  on  a  corner,  and  he  pushed  forward 
to  learn  the  cause  of  the  excitement.  Its  members  were 
all  studying  a  paper  posted  on  a  wall,  and  talking  about 
its  contents.  As  he  did  not  understand  the  language, 
he  asked  a  by-stander  to  translate  it  for  him  into  French 
or  Latin.  The  paper  contained  an  abstruse  mathemat- 
ical problem,  which  in  this  way  had  been  submitted  to 
the  public  for  solution.  The  soldier  obtained  his  trans- 
lation, went  to  his  quarters,  and  a  few  days  afterwards 
sent  in  the  correct  answer,  signed  "Descartes."  This 
was  the  introduction  to  the  world  of  the  greatest  philos- 


ENGLISH    AND    DUTCH    OFFICIAL    HONESTY  85 

opher  and  mathematician  of  the  age,  whose  transcen- 
dent ability  was  at  once  recognized  in  Holland.*  Can 
the  reader  imagine  such  an  occurrence  as  this  in  the 
England  of  the  Stuarts  ?  A  crowd  might  have  gathered 
there  to  see  a  bull-baiting  or  a  dog-fight,  but  never  to 
study  a  problem  in  mathematics. 

As  for  the  nobility  of  character  and  loftiness  of 
thought  supposed  to  be  encouraged  by  an  hereditary 
aristocracy,  the  contrast  is  no  less  striking.  When  Eliz- 
abeth sent  a  little  army  to  the  Netherlands  to  assist  in 
the  war  with  Spain,  there  was  hardly  one  of  her  cap- 
tains, no  matter  how  high  his  rank,  who  did  not  swin- 
dle in  his  pay-rolls,  until  Prince  Maurice  detected  and 
stopped  the  fraud.f  As  for  the  nobles  at  home,  under 
Elizabeth  and  her  successor,  many  of  them  who  bore  the 
most  illustrious  names,  and  occupied  the  highest  social 
position,  were  then,  like  their  descendants  for  genera- 
tions afterwards,  always  up  for  sale.  They  took  bribes 
from  every  quarter,  even  from  the  enemy,  and  never 
seemed  to  suffer  in  the  public  estimation  when  detected. :j; 
How,  during  the  war  in  the  Netherlands,  some  of  her  of- 
ficers sold  out  the  fortresses  committed  to  their  charo'e, 
and  how  Elizabeth  herself  was  always  attempting  to 
betray  her  Protestant  allies,  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

Turning  now  to  Holland,  republican  Holland,  the 
country  of  the  "  base  mechanicals,"  the  opposing  record 
is  a  very  brief  one.  Never  in  war  or  peace,  though 
Spain  was  lavish  of  promises  and  a  master  of  corrup- 
tion, was  a  native  Hollander  bought  with  gold.§     The 


*  "John  de  V^itt,"  by  James  Geddes,  p.  35. 
t  Motley's  "  United  Netheriands,"  iii.  98,  99. 
J  Ibid.,  iv.  480,  etc. 
§  Davies's  "  Holland,"  ii.  656. 


86  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Dutch  officials  were  of  a  class  very  different  from  that 
encountered  at  the  English  Court.  When,  in  1608,  the 
Spanish  ambassadors  were  on  their  way  to  negotiate  a 
treaty  at  The  Hague,  the}^  saw  eight  or  ten  persons  land 
from  a  little  boat,  and,  sitting  down  on  the  grass,  make 
a  meal  of  bread  and  cheese  and  beer.  "  Who  are  these 
travellers  V  said  the  Spaniards  to  a  peasant.  "  They  are 
the  deputies  from  the  States,"  he  answered,  "our  sov- 
ereign lords  and  masters."  "  Then  we  must  make  peace," 
they  cried ;  "  these  are  not  men  to  be  conquered  !"* 

It  was  not  alone  upon  the  land,  nor  among  the  upper 
classes,  that  we  mark  the  contrast  between  the  English 
and  Dutch  ideas  of  official  honesty.  In  1656,  two  Span- 
ish treasure  -  ships  were  captured  by  Cromwell's  navy. 
They  were  said  to  have  contained  about  a  million  ster- 
ling, but  when  brought  into  port  two  thirds  of  the  booty 
was  missing,  having  been  stolen  by  the  officers  and  men. 
One  captain,  it  was  reported,  secured  about  sixty  thou- 
sand pounds.f  In  1628,  the  Dutch  navy  had  also  capt- 
ured a  Spanish  treasure-fleet,  containing  silver  and  gold 
valued  at  over  twelve  million  florins.:}:  Bringing  his 
prize  into  port  and  having  turned  over  all  the  treasure 
to  the  government,  Peterson  Heyn,  the  admiral,  who 
had  begun  life  as  a  common  sailor,  Avas  asked  to  name 
his  own  reward.  He  answered  that  he  wished  for  no  re- 
ward in  money,  having  only  done  his  duty  to  the  State ; 
but  that  he  would  like  permission  to  retire  to  private 
life.§  

*  Voltaire,  quoted  in  "  Notes  to  Rogers's  Italy." 

t  Guizot's  "  Cromwell,"  p.  370. 

J  About  a  million  sterling. 

§  Davies's  "Holland,"  ii.  573.  He  was  not  permitted  to  retire, 
but  was  made  lieutenant  admiral,  and  two  years  later  died  glori- 
ously in  battle.     He  was  buried  at  Delft,  near  William  of  Orange. 


THE    ENGLISH   NEVEK    UNDERSTOOD    THE   DUTCH  87 

Such  men  as  these,  who  were  not  exceptional,  but  only 
types,  the  English  ruling  classes  understood  as  little  as 
some  of  their  descendants  understood  Washington  and 
Lincoln  when  alive.  Admiral  De  Ruyter,  one  of  the 
greatest  naval  heroes  of  all  time,  who  began  life  as  a 
rope-maker,  was  found  by  the  French  Count  de  Guiche, 
on  the  morning  after  his  four  days'  battle  with  the 
English  fleet,  feeding  his  chickens  and  sweeping  out  his 
cabin.  William  of  Orange,  when  at  the  height  of  his 
authority,  mingled  with  the  common  people,  wearing  the 
woollen  waistcoat  of  a  bargeman,  and  an  old  mantle 
which  a  student  would  have  pronounced  threadbare.* 
The  naval  commanders  of  England,  who,  in  the  main, 
were  nothing  more  than  pirates,  looked  down  on  the 
simple-minded  Dutchmen,  who  wanted  no  reward  but 
the  consciousness  of  having  done  their  duty.  The  court- 
iers around  Elizabeth  and  her  successors,  who  wore  their 
fortunes  on  their  backs,  and  thought  any  mode  of  get- 
ting money  honorable  except  to  labor  for  it,  sneered  at 
the  republicans  who  hung  the  walls  of  their  houses  with 
the  choicest  paintings,  cultivated  music,  studied  science 
and  the  classics,  and  were  the  greatest  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors of  the  age,  but  went  about  in  plain  clothing,  dis- 
pensed exact  justice  to  poor  and  rich  alike,  cared  for 
the  unfortunate,  and  frowned  on  idleness  and  vice.  The 
world,  however,  has  moved  in  the  last  three  centuries, 
although  this  feeling  has,  in  some  quarters,  not  entirely 
disappeared. 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have  attempted  to  show  how 
riadically  the  leading  institutions  of  America  differ  from 
those  of  England.     To  trace  the  origin  of  these  insti- 


*  Taine,  "  Brooke's  Sidney,"  p.  16  et  seq. 


88  THE   rURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

tutions  is  to  tell  the  story  of  Puritanism  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, where  the  Puritan,  with  his  centuries  of  civili- 
zation and  self-government  behind  him,  was  of  a  very- 
different  type  from  his  brother  across  the  Channel.  To 
show  how  they  came  to  America  is  to  tell  the  story  of 
the  English  Puritan,  much  of  which  relating  to  his  men- 
tal and  moral  environments,  and  the  influences  which 
shaped  his  character,  giving  it  some  unlovely  features, 
never  has  been  attempted. 

These  lines  of  investigation  constantly  cross  each  oth- 
er; for  the  period  of  the  great  struggle  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty  in  the  Netherlands,  out  of  which  the 
Puritan  in  Holland  was  evolved,  also  gave  birth  to  the 
English  Puritan,  and  to  the  settlement  of  what  is  now 
the  United  States.  It  is  only  by  looking  at  the  whole 
story  together,  and  keeping  in  mind  the  connection  of 
its  different  parts,  that  we  can  understand  how  the 
American  Pepublic,  the  foundations  of  which  were  laid 
by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  was  influenced  by  its  prototype 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I  hope,  therefore, 
that  the  reader  will  pardon  me  if  in  some  places  I  lead 
him  over  familiar  fields,  although  my  path,  especially 
in  England,  will  present  views  somewhat  different  from 
those  generally  given  by  historians.* 


*  To  some  readers  it  may  appear  that  in  my  early  chapters  too 
much  space  has  been  given  to  the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands,  which 
Motley  is  supposed  to  have  made  familiar  to  the  public.  This  criti- 
cism might  have  more  force  if  I  could  assume  that  all  my  readers 
would  be  fresh  from  the  study  of  ]\Iotley's  woi'ks.  But  even  among 
historical  scholars  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  many  have  had  an 
experience  like  mine.  When  I  read  "  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Repub- 
lic," at  its  first  appearance,  I  thought  many  portions  of  it  too  highly 
colored.     The  author  did  not,  to  my  satisfaction,  explain  why  this 


OMITTED    DUTCH    HISTORY  89 

people  should  exhibit  such  heroic  traits  of  character,  and  develop 
so  high  a  form  of  civilization  as  compared  with  that  of  their  con- 
temporaries in  other  lands.  These  questions,  perhaps,  seemed  of 
little  materiality  to  the  historian  who,  from  the  original  records,  was 
writing  the  story  of  a  single  epoch.  For  my  purposes,  however,  it 
has  been  necessary  to  go  back  of  the  inception  of  the  struggle  with 
Spain,  and  to  seek  out  the  origin  and  nature  of  the  national  institu- 
tions and  characteristics  which  gave  strength  to  the  insurgents,  de- 
veloped their  civilization,  and  led  to  their  influence  on  England  and 
America.  In  doing  this,  I  have  become  fully  satisfied  of  the  sub- 
stantial fidelity  of  Motley's  narrative,  while  I  have  also  become  con- 
vinced that  the  comparatively  little  eflfect  produced  by  his  works  on 
modern  historical  thought,  as  shown  in  the  histories  of  other  coun- 
tries, especially  those  of  England  and  America,  is  largely  due  to  the 
absence  of  what  he  has  omitted.  Some  of  these  omissions  I  have 
attempted  to  supply,  and,  to  make  the  result  at  all  intelligible,  the 
repetition  of  a  portion  of  the  narrative  has  seemed  to  me  essential. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    NETHERLANDS  BEFORE   THE   WAR  WITH  SPAIN 

THE  COUNTKY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE,  AGEICULTUEE,  MANTJFACTUEES, 
COMMERCE,  AND  AET 

It  has  been  customary  among  modern  writers,  when 
treating  of  the  Puritans,  to  confine  their  use  of  the  name 
to  Eno-lishmen  or  their  descendants  in  America.  But  the 
word,  when  first  originated,  had  no  such  restricted  mean- 
ing. It  came  into  the  English  language  during  the  early 
days  of  Elizabeth,  and  was  constantly  employed  through- 
out the  reigns  of  the  first  two  Stuarts.  Its  meaning  in 
the  country  of  its  origin  was  changed  from  time  to  time, 
but  it  was  always  applied  to  a  type  of  man  which  was 
not  peculiar  to  England.*  Hence  it  was  that,  while  Eliz- 
abeth and  James  I.  were  on  the  throne,  men  in  Holland 
were  called  Puritans,  both  by  Hollanders  and  English- 
men, equally  with  men  of  the  same  class  in  England  ; 
and  in  modern  times  Motley  has  used  the  name  in  the 
same  raanner.f  Supported  by  these  precedents,  I  have 
in  this  work  given  to  the  words  Puritan  and  Puritan- 
ism a  broader  significance  than  that  usually  accorded  to 
them.  

*  See  Preface,  p.  ix.  "Wlien  I  come  to  consider  the  cleveloi:)ment  of 
English  Puritanism,  I  shall  show  how  the  name  originated,  and  what 
meanings  were  attached  to  it  at  various  periods. 

t  Motley's  "United  Netherlands,"  ii.  123;  "Life  of  Barneveld,"  ii. 
119,  284,  285. 


THE   PURITAN    OF   HOLLAND  91 

In  many  of  his  characteristics  the  Puritan  was  as  old 
as  history  itself.  In  almost  every  clime  and  age  men 
have  stood  up  to  advocate  reforms,  and  by  their  lives  to 
protest  against  the  immorality  and  corruption  of  the 
society  about  them.  But  the  peculiar  characteristic  of 
the  Puritan,  distinguishing  him  from  prior  reformers  in 
Church  or  State,  was  his  religious  belief.  He  was  the 
child  of  the  Peformation,  and  it  is  therefore  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Reformation  that  we  must  look  for  his  origin. 

But  although  the  Reformation  produced  the  Puritan, 
it  wrouo'ht  no  miracle  in  the  nature  of  the  men  whom  it 
affected.  If  it  found  them  ignorant  and  narrow-minded, 
it  did  not  at  once  make  them  learned  and  liberal  in  their 
ideas.  On  the  contrary,  its  first  effects  were  rather  in 
the  opposite  direction,  intensifying  some  of  their  natural 
failings.  Like  all  other .  great  spiritual  revolutions,  it 
took  men  as  it  found  them,  and  developed  them  on  their 
original  lines.  In  tlie  end  it  broadened  their  ideas,  and, 
by  teaching  them  the  equality  of  man  in  the  eyes  of  his 
Creator,  led  up  to  the  lesson  of  human  equality  on  earth. 
But  such  lessons  bear  their  fruit  very  slowly ;  and  had 
the  world  waited  until  their  development  in  England,  its 
modern  harvest  might  have  been  long  deferred. 

The  Puritan  of  England  followed,  but  after  a  consid- 
erable interval,  his  prototype  in  Holland.  He  borrowed 
from  Holland  many  of  the  ideas  and  institutions  which 
he  attempted  to  introduce  into  England,  and  with  which 
he  succeeded  in  the  United  States.  Although  in  each 
country  he  was  the  product  of  the  Reformation,  it  was 
the  Reformation  engrafted  on  the  past.  It  is  therefore 
to  their  respective  pasts  that  we  must  look  if  we  would 
understand  why  the  Puritans  of  Holland  differed  so 
widely  from  those  of  England,  and  how  the  one  came  to 
affect  the  other.     To  the  American  of  English  descent 


92         THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

such  an  examination  should  be  of  pecuhar  interest,  for 
in  tracing  the  development  of  the  Hollanders,  he  is  not 
following  the  records  of  an  alien  race.  They  were  of  sub- 
stantially the  same  blood  as  his  English  ancestors ;  so  that, 
in  comparing  the  past  of  the  two,  he  is  simply  seeing  how 
his  own  kith  and  kin  developed  under  the  influence  of 
different  natural  environments  and  different  institutions. 

Beginning  now  with  the  country  of  the  elder  and 
more  matured  civilization,  let  us  first  consider  the  in- 
fluences which  shaped  the  character  of  the  Puritan  of 
the  ISTetherlands.  Following  this  we  shall,  in  these  early 
chapters,  see  something  of  the  struggle  with  Spain,  in 
which  that  character  was  developed,  down  to  the  time 
when  the  Puritans  of  England  came  under  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  their  brethren  across  the  Channel. 

In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Nether- 
lands, or  Low  Countries,  as  they  were  often  called,  con- 
sisted of  seventeen  separate  provinces,  which  together 
covered  a  territory  about  half  the  size  of  England.  As 
the  result  of  their  great  revolt  from  Spain,  this  little 
tract  of  land  was  divided  into  two  nearly  equal  portions. 
The  ten  southern  Catholic  provinces,  now  composing 
Belgium,  continued  under  their  foreign  ruler.  The 
northern  seven,  which  were  Protestant,  by  the  most  re- 
markable war  in  history — a  war  waged  by  sea  and  land 
for  eighty  years — were  welded  into  the  great  Dutch  Ee- 
public,  called  the  United  Netherlands,  and  sometimes 
Holland,  after  the  name  of  the  largest  state  of  the  con- 
federacy. This  republic,  with  its  thirteen  thousand 
square  miles  of  surface,  formed  but  a  patch  upon  the 
map  of  Europe :  England  alone  is  four  times  as  large, 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ten  times,  Erance  nearly 
twenty,  Europe  three  hundred ;  Switzerland  is  larger ; 
historic  Greece  was  half  as  large  again. 


THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS  93 

The  improvements  of  modern  science,  especially  in  the 
machinery  of  war,  together  with  the  general  progress 
of  societ}'",  have  a  tendency  to  equalize  men,  and  give 
countries  rank  according  to  their  size  and  population. 
It  therefore  seems  strange  to  us  that  within  three  cen- 
turies the  world  should  have  been  led  by  a  people  who 
occupied  so  minute  a  subdivision  of  its  surface.  The 
lirst  glance  at  the  character  of  their  country  would  have 
a  tendency  to  add  to  this  surprise,  for,  picturing  it  as  it 
appeared  in  early  days,  one  would  ask  how  man  ever  re- 
duced it  to  subjection.  Then,  however,  would  follow  the 
thought  that  a  race  which  could  conquer  this  cross  be- 
tween the  earth  and  the  sea  might,  with  one  element  in 
either  hand,  easily  control  the  world. 

The  JSTetherlands  are  largely  composed  of  the  alluvial 
deposit  of  the  Meuse,  the  Scheldt,  and  the  Khine.  For 
countless  ages  these  rivers  poured  into  the  German 
Ocean  the  soil  of  France  and  Germany,  building  up  the 
mainland,  as  the  Nile  has  done  in  the  Mediterranean, 
and  the  Mississippi  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  sea  in 
return  cast  up  its  dunes  and  sand-banks.  Back  of  these, 
and  behind  the  hardening  slime  which  the  rivers  heaped 
up  from  side  to  side  as  they  straggled  on  their  course, 
most  of  the  country  was  a  broad  morass.  Here  and 
there  were  islands  which  seemed  to  float  on  the  surface 
of  the  ooze,  tracts  of  brushwood,  forests  of  pine,  oak, 
and  alder,  while  tempestuous  lakes  filled  in  the  picture. 
Along  the  coast  appeared  a  succession  of  deep  bays  and 
gulfs,  through  which  the  Northern  Ocean  swept  in  re- 
sistless fury.  At  length,  the  wearied  rivers  appear  to 
have  given  up  the  contest,  and  lost  themselves,  wander- 
ing helplessly  amid  the  marshes.  Then  man  took  up 
the  struggle.  Little  by  little  the  land  was  rescued; 
dikes  chained  the  ocean  and  curbed  the  rivers  in  their 


94  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

channels ;  lakes  were  emptied,  canals  furrowed,  and  even 
the  soil  itself  created. 

In  this  warfare  with  the  elements,  the  brunt  of  the 
contest  fell  on  the  hollow-land,  or  Holland.  It  had  no 
iron — in  fact,  no  metal  of  any  kind — for  tools,  and  no 
stone  for  houses  or  for  dikes.  Even  wood  was  wanting, 
for  the  early  forests  had  been  destroyed  by  tempests.  To 
this  country  nature  seemed  to  have  denied  nearly  all  her 
gifts ;  so  that,  almost  disinherited  at  birth,  it  stands  a  vast 
monument  to  the  courage,  industry,  and  energy  of  an 
indomitable  people.  From  end  to  end  it  is  to-day  a 
frowning  fortress,  keeping  watch  and  ward  against  its 
ancient  enemy,  the  sea.*  In  great  part  it  lies  below  the 
water  level.  Even  now  inundations  ever  threaten  ruin. 
One  who  has  seen  the  liorth  Sea  in  a  fury  can  imagine 
what  such  perils  were  in  the  earlier  days  when  science 
was  in  its  infancy.  Time  after  time  whole  districts  have 
been  submerged,  cities  swallowed  up — twenty,  eighty,  a 
hundred  thousand  persons  disappearing  in  a  night.  So 
marked  have  been  the  transformations  from  this  cause 
that  a  map  of  Holland  as  it  existed  eight  hundred  jea.rs 
ago  would  not  be  recognized  to-day.  f 


*  The  coast  of  Harlem  is  protected  by  a  dike  of  Norway  granite, 
five  miles  in  length  and  forty  feet  in  height,  which  is  buried  two 
hundred  feet  beneath  the  waves.  Amsterdam  is  built  entirely  on 
piles,  frequently  thirty  feet  long.  The  foundations  of  every  town 
and  village  in  Friesland  are  artificial  constructions.  It  is  estimated 
that  seven  and  a  half  billions  of  francs  have  been  expended  on  pro- 
tective work  between  the  Scheldt  and  the  Dollart.  Taine's  "Art  in 
the  Netherlands,"  pp.  39,  40. 

^Edbibuvgh  i?CTiew?,  Oct.,  1847,  p.  426;  "Holland  and  its  People," 
De  Amicis ;  Taine's  "  Art  in  the  Netherlands,"  Durand's  transl.,  p.  38, 
and  authorities  cited.  This  change  has  been  going  on  in  the  whole 
of  the  Netherlands.  For  example,  Ghent  was  a  seaport  in  the  ninth 
century,  and  Bruges  in  the  twelfth. 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL    FACTOR  IN    HISTORY  95 

Still,  man  remained  the  conqueror.  On  this  patch  of 
manufactured  earth  was  realized  the  boast  of  Archime- 
des. The  little  republic,  just  come  to  maturity  when 
America  was  settled,  vanquished  and  well-nigh  de- 
stroyed the  mightiest  military  power  of  Europe.  Short- 
ly afterwards,  it  met  the  combined  forces  of  Charles  II. 
and  Louis  XIY.  of  France.  As  a  colonizer  it  ranks  sec- 
ond to  England  alone,  reaching  out  to  Java,  Sumatra, 
Hindostan,  Ceylon,  New  Holland,  Japan,  Brazil,  Guiana, 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  West  Indies,  and  jSTew  York. 
To-day  the  waste  which  the  ancients  looked  on  as  unin- 
habitable is  among  the  most  fertile,  the  wealthiest,  and 
most  populous  regions  of  the  world ;  its  people  stand  the 
foremost  in  Europe  for  general  intelligence  and  purity 
of  morals.^-' 

It  is  very  evident  that  these  Ketherlanders  must  have 
had  a  remarkable  history.  That  history  can  only  be  un- 
derstood by  always  bearing  in  mind  the  natural  surround- 
ings and  conditions  of  existence  in  this  peculiar  land. 
The  destinies  of  every  people  are  determined,  to  a  great 
extent,  by  the  soil,  climate,  and  geographical  configura- 
tion of  their  country ;  but  these  influences  differ  in  in- 
tensity, and  hence  in  the  manner  and  rapidity,  with 
which  they  accomplish  great  results.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
question  of  geographical  situation  becomes  of  more  im- 
portance in  the  history  of  some  nations  than  in  that  of 
others,  although  this  truth  is  not  always  given  its  due 
prominence. 

For  example,  the  whole  story  of  the  English  people 
centres  around  the  fact  that  they  have  lived  in  an  island 


*  Proportions  considered,  there  are  fewer  persons  in  Holland  igno- 
rant of  the  alphabet  than  in  Prussia.  "  Holland  and  its  People," 
De  Amicis,  p.  157,  Amer.  ed. 


96  THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

fortress,  where,  since  the  Norman  Conquest,  they  have 
been  secure  from  Continental  invasion  and  left  to  work 
out  their  own  problems  substantially  undisturbed.  Such 
a  position  of  separation  from  the  elder  nations  of  the 
Continent  has  had  its  marked  advantages,  developing 
the  love  of  country  and  liberty,  the  self-confidence,  and 
the  practical  sagacity  for  which  the  Englishman  has 
always  been  distinguished.  To  it  is  also  largely  due  the 
vast  accumulated  wealth  which  has  made  this  little  island 
the  treasury  of  the  world.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
very  isolation  which  has  had  such  beneficent  results, 
with  the  security  from  reprisals  which  has  made  her 
wide-spread  spoliations  possible,  lies  at  the  bottom  of 
many  of  her  great  defects.  The  gigantic  moat  which 
separates  her  from  the  rest  of  Europe  has  kept  out  much 
of  good  as  well  as  of  evil  influence.  Had  it  been  closed 
three  or  four  centuries  ago  by  one  of  nature's  mighty 
convulsions,  England  would  fill  a  very  different  place  on 
the  historic  page. 

The  history  of  the  Netherlands  furnishes  perhaps  even 
a  better  illustration  of  the  influence  of  environment  in 
shaping  a  people's  life.  Certainly  the  points  at  which 
their  conditions  of  existence  differed  from  those  of  the 
English,  and  the  effects  produced  by  these  natural  dif- 
ferences, form  very  suggestive  subjects  for  a  student. 
We  have  already  seen  something  as  to  the  character  of 
the  soil,  and  the  mode  in  which  it  has  been  created  and 
preserved.  ISTow  take  a  map  of  the  country,  and  we 
shall  see  that  on.  two  sides  it  is  bounded  by  the  German 
Ocean,  and  on  the  other  two  by  France  and  Germany. 
More  than  this,  the  latter  boundaries  are  not  made  up 
of  natural  barriers ;  they  are  simply  lines  upon  the  map, 
passing  through  level  districts  and  intersected  by  great 
rivers.     Here,  then,  we  must  pause  for  a  moment  and 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL   POSITION   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS         97 

see  how  the  geographical  factor  has  influenced  this 
people. 

Although  the  sea-coast  stretched  along  but  two  sides 
of  the  country,  it  was  one  perhaps  even  more  favorable 
to  primitive  commerce  than  that  of  England,  for  its 
indentations  and  the  limitless  extensions  furnished  by 
its  river  channels  afforded  innumerable  refuges  against 
the  pirates,  who  were  in  former  ages  the  chief  enemies 
of  trade.  This  relation  to  the  sea  made  the  people, 
like  the  English,  from  the  earliest  time  a  race  of  sailors. 
But  the  inland  connection  with  the  other  European 
peoples  was  at  first  even  more  important.  Most  of 
the  early  commerce  was  carried  on  by  the  rivers,  and 
by  the  old  E,oman  roads  which  led  from  Italy.  Through 
these  arteries  flowed  the  civilizing  streams,  which,  though 
at  times  quite  faint  in  their  pulsations,  never  ceased 
their  vivifying  work.  Here  was  an  element  almost  en- 
tirely wanting  in  England  ;  of  its  importance  we  shall 
see  more  hereafter.  Sufiice  it  now  to  say  that  every- 
where in  the  commerce,  manufactures,  arts,  institutions, 
and  laws  of  the  Netherlands,  we  find  traces  of  this  con- 
nection with  ancient  and  modern  Italy. 

Still,  this  situation,  with  three  great  rivers  flowing 
through  the  country  to  the  ocean,  and  with  roads  lead- 
ing out  in  all  directions,  favorable  as  it  was  for  trade  in 
times  of  peace,  was  one  calculated  to  invite  attack  in 
times  of  war.  Having  no  ocean  barriers  like  those  of 
England,  no  mountain  ranges  like  the  Alps  or  Apen- 
nines, no  rocky  fastnesses  hke  those  of  Switzerland,  the 
Low  Countries  have  in  all  ages  been  subject  to  the  in- 
cursions of  their  lawless  neighbors.  The  "  Cockpit  of 
Europe  "  is  the  name  given  to  this  region  in  modern 
days,  from  the  number  of  battles  which  have  been 
fought  upon  its  soil.  To  the  enormous  war  expenses 
I.— 7 


98         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

thrust  upon  them  from  their  exposed  position  is  largely 
due  the  comj^arative  decline  of  these  once  all-powerful 
and  wealthy  provinces. 

At  first  glance  it  seems  strange  that  under  such  con- 
ditions the  Netherlands  ever  secured  a  foothold  among 
the  powers  of  the  earth.  But  before  the  invention  of 
gunpowder  revolutionized  the  art  of  war,  the  subject  of 
national  defence  was  a  quite  different  one  from  that  pre- 
sented in  later  days.  The  fact  is,  that  the  absence  of 
natural  barriers  and  mountain  retreats  became  one  main 
cause  of  the  power  and  prosperity  of  the  people  of  this 
country  during  and  at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Men  for  whom  nature  or  fortune  has  done  much,  even 
in  the  w^ay  of  protection  against  their  enemies,  are  too 
often  inclined  to  rely  on  these  advantages  rather  than 
on  themselves.  Here,  however,  where  nature  had  done 
nothing,  the  men  became  self-reliant.  They  built  their 
own  fortresses,  covering  the  land  with  walled  towns 
which  developed  into  great  cities,  w^here  each  man, 
whether  an  artisan  or  gentle-born,  was  trained  to  the 
use  of  arms.  To  the  existence  of  these  towns,  and  to 
the  formation  of  the  country,  the  Netherlands  owed 
their  peculiar  exemption  from  the  blighting  influence  of 
the  feudal  system,  which  checked  civihzation  in  so  great 
a  part  of  Europe.  The  cities  with  their  narrow,  tortuous 
streets,  and  a  country  the  soil  of  which  was  largely  a 
morass,  and  all  intersected  by  canals,  arms  of  the  sea, 
and  rivers,  afforded  little  scope  for  the  movements  of 
mounted  knights  and  their  retainers. 

Still  greater  has  been  the  influence  of  another  feature 
of  their  geographical  position.  Manufactures  and  com- 
merce brought  w^ealth,  and  with  it  luxury,  love  of  art, 
and  learning,  but,  especially  in  Holland,  little  of  the 
enervation  which  usually  follows  in  their  train.   In  most 


INFLUENCE   ON   THE   NATIONAL    CHARACTER  99 

lands  accumulated  wealth  has  bred  a  disinclination  to 
labor,  fostering  a  leisured  class,  the  great  curse  of  a 
community.  But  here  the  time  has  never  come  when 
men  could  sit  down  and  say  their  work  was  finished, 
and  that  they  would  enjoy  life  in  ease.  Before  them 
has  ever  stood  the  sea,  daily  and  hourly  threatening 
their  existence.  Their  fathers  made  the  land,  but  they 
have  preserved  it  only  by  incessant  labor.  A  little 
crevice  in  their  dikes,  unnoticed  for  a  few  hours,  might 
devastate  a  district.  Even  with  the  most  watchful  care, 
no  man  can  go  to  bed  at  night  assured  that  in  the 
morning  he  will  find  his  possessions  safe. 

These  conditions  of  life  in  the  I^etherlands  must  al- 
ways be  remembered  if  we  would  understand  their 
history.  The  constant  struggle  for  existence,  as  in  all 
cases  when  the  rewards  are  great  enough  to  raise  men 
above  biting,  sordid  penury,  strengthens  the  whole  race, 
mentally,  morally,  and  physically.  Again,  labor  here 
has  never  been  selfish  and  individual.  To  be  effective 
it  requires  organization  and  direction.  Men  learn  to 
work  in  a  body  and  under  leaders.  A  single  man  labor- 
ing on  a  dike  would  accomplish  nothing;  the  whole 
population  must  turn  out  and  act  together.  The  habits 
thus  engendered  extend  in  all  directions.  Everything 
is  done  in  corporations.  Each  trade  has  its  guild,  elects 
its  own  officers,  and  manages  its  own  affairs.  The  peo- 
ple are  a  vast  civic  army,  subdivided  into  brigades,  reg- 
iments, and  companies,  all  accustomed  to  discipline, 
learning  the  first  great  lesson  of  life,  obedience. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  daily  contest  with  nature,  the 
regularity  of  life  thus  enforced,  and  the  attention  to 
minute  details  essential  to  existence,  crush  out  the  ro- 
mantic spirit  which  makes  some  nations  so  picturesque. 
We  find  among  them  none  of  the  wild  chants  of  other 


100        THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Korthern  people.  'No  poet  sings  to  them  of  goblins 
and  fairy  sprites.  Their  world  is  inhabited  by  actuali- 
ties, and  not  by  witches  or  the  spirits  of  dead  heroes. 
Hence  they  were  never  highly  poetical,  as  the  English 
were  until  after  the  time  of  Shakespeare,  when  they  too 
became  a  race  of  manufacturers  and  merchants.  They 
are  not  contemplative  philosophers,  like  the  Germans ; 
they  dwell  in  no  abstractions  and  indulge  in  little  sen- 
timent. Life  here  below  has  been  their  study :  how  to 
improve  the  condition  of  man  on  this  planet ;  how  to 
make  the  home  attractive  by  art,  music,  flowers,  and 
social  recreations ;  how  to  dispense  justice  to  rich  and 
poor  alike,  relieve  the  unfortunate,  and  give  every  one 
an  equal  chance  in  life ;  how  to  protect  the  oppressed 
from  other  lands,  keeping  the  conscience  as  well  as  the 
body  free ;  how  to  teach  the  world  that  men  can  be  rich 
without  insolence,  poor  without  discontent,  learned  with- 
out pride,  artistic  without  corruption,  earnest  in  relig- 
ion without  bigotry.  This  is  honor  enough.  Had  these 
people  also  produced  a  Homer,  a  Dante,  or  a  Shake- 
speare, they  would  have  been  a  miracle  and  not  a  growth. 
But  there  is  something  more  than  soil,  climate,  and 
natural  surroundings  which  determines  a  nation's  his- 
tory. All  men  under  the  same  conditions  will  not  reach 
the  same  result.  Great  is  the  influence  of  environment, 
but  great  also  is  the  mysterious  influence  of  race.  Place 
a  people  of  one  blood  on  the  American  continent,  and 
they  remain  wandering  tribes  of  painted  hunters.  Re- 
place them  with  men  of  another  breed,  and  the  land  in 
less  than  three  centuries  is  covered  with  cities,  fretted 
with  railroads,  and  groaning  under  the  wealth  of  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  and  commerce.  The  natural  con- 
ditions are  the  same ;  it  is  only  the  human  factor  which 
has  been  changed. 


THE   EARLY   INHABITANTS   OP   THE   NETHERLANDS  101 

In  the  history  of  the  Netherlands  this  human  factor 
forms  an  interesting  study.  It  is  evident  that  upon  such 
a  soil  none  of  the  weak  and  puny  races  of  the  earth 
could  ever  have  gained  a  foothold.  Once  there,  and 
settled  in  their  habitations,  they  would  be  greatly  mould- 
ed by  the  natural  surroundings;  but  "the  first  struggle 
required  the  foremost  blood  which  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Even  beyond  this,  the  influence  of  race  is  so 
persistent  that  we  shall  find  it  all  through  their  history, 
shaping  the  character  and  institutions  of  this  people ;  so 
that  when  at  last,  after  fifteen  centuries,  the  seventeen 
provinces,  living  under  much'  the  same  conditions,  are 
divided  into  two  equal  parts,  differing  in  religion  and 
form  of  government,  the  line  of  cleavage  follows  nearly 
that  of  the  earliest  race  divisions  noticed  by  the  Romans. 

Who,  then,  were  the  people  tHat  wrested  this  land  from 
the  ocean  and  gave  it  fertility  and  wealth?  What  am- 
phibious race,  half  beaver,  half  man,  first  occupied  the 
primeval  morasses  which  now  compose  the  Netherlands 
we  do  not  know.  Our  earliest  account  of  the  country 
is  derived  from  Caesar,  and  it  is  supplemented  by  that 
of  Tacitus,  who  seems  to  have  been  particularly  interest- 
ed in  its  people.  According  to  tradition,  the  aborigines 
had  been  swept  away  about  a  century  before  our  era. 
However  this  may  be,  the  historic  scene  opens  with  the 
advent  of  the  Romans,  and  at  that  time  the  face  of  the 
country  was  almost  unchanged  by  the  hand  of  man.  To 
us,  therefore,  the  races  which  the  Romans  found  in  occu- 
pation may  stand  as  the  first  occupants ;  and  when  we 
come  to  see  their  character,  we  shall  comprehend  the 
second  great  factor  in  the  history  of  their  descendants. 

When  Julius  Ceesar  swept  over  Western  Europe  on 
his  meteoric  career  of  conquest,  he  found  this  land  oc- 
cupied by  tribes  whose  peculiar  valor  historians  and 


102       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMEKICA 

poets  have  made  immortal.  The  Rhine  formed  nearly 
the  division  boundary  between  those  of  Gallic  and  those 
of  Germanic  blood.  On  its  southern  bank  dwelt  the 
Belgas,  whom  he  named  the  bravest  of  the  Gauls.  There 
he  "  overcame  the  Kervii,"  who  died,  but  would  not  sur- 
render. He  annihilated  them  in  a  battle  memorable 
in  his  marvellous  campaigns — a  battle  where  he  himself 
fouffht  like  a  common  soldier  in  the  ranks. 

North  of  the  Ehine,  or  rather  on  an  island  formed  by 
two  of  its  branches,  he  found  a  tribe  of  Teutonic  origin, 
even  more  illustrious.  These  were  the  Batavians,  whom 
Tacitus  called  the  bravest  of  the  Germans.  The  other 
barbarians  were  conquered  and  paid  tribute  to  Rome ; 
they  simply  became  her  allies,  the  tax-gatherer  never 
setting  foot  upon  their  island,  which  now  forms  the 
heart  of  Holland.*  As  allies  they  earned  an  historic 
name.  Csesar  cherished  their  cavalry  as  his  favorite 
troops,  and  with  them  turned  the  tide  of  battle  at  Phar- 
salia.  For  over  a  century  after  his  murder,  the  Batavian 
legion  formed  the  imperial  body-guard,  making  and  un- 
making emperors,  and  the  Batavian  island  the  base  of 
operations  against  Britain,  Gaul,  and  Germany.f 

The  Gallic  and  Germanic  tribes  who  occupied  re- 
spectively the  southern  and  the  northern  portions  of 
the  Netherlands,  now  Belgium  and  Holland,  differed 
widely  in  their  characteristics.  The  men  of  either  race 
were  of  gigantic  stature,  muscular,  and  inured  to  w^ar ; 
but  there  the  resemblance  largely  ceased.  The  Gaul 
loved  ornaments,  decked  himself  in  gay  colors,  and  wore 
his  yellow  hair  floating  in  the  breeze.     He  liked  society. 


*  Tacitus,  "  Gerraania,"  §§  29,  30. 

t  Grattan's  "Hist,  of  the  Netherlands,"  p.  18;   Motley's  "Dutch 
Republic,"  i.  1-5. 


THE  GAULS  AND  THE  GERMANS  103 

and  so  dwelt  in  towns  and  yillages,  cultivating  the  soil. 
He  was  swift  to  auger,  but  easily  appeased.  Supersti- 
tious, he  was  priest-ridden,  being  governed  mainly  by  the 
Druids.  Unchaste,  to  him  the  marriage  state  was  almost 
unknown.  The  German,  on  the  other  hand,  was  very 
simple  in  his  costume.  His  fiery-red  hair  he  bound  up 
in  a  war-knot,  heightening  its  color  if  nature  had  been 
too  chary.  Beyond  this  he  wore  no  ornaments.  He 
looked  down  on  agriculture,  and  thought  no  pursuit 
honorable  but  that  of  arms.  Less  irascible  than  the 
Gaul,  he  held  his  anger  longer  and  was  capable  of  more 
continued  conflict.  Dishking  society,  he  preferred  to 
live  alone  under  the  broad  sky,  with  one  wife  who  was 
his  companion  in  peace  and  war.  ISTo  priest  controlled 
his  actions,  but  in  the  sacred  groves  he  paid  a  simple 
homage  to  one  almighty,  unseen  God. 

In  their  civil  organization  also  these  races  differed 
widely.  Among  the  Gauls  were  three  classes — -the 
priests,  nobility,  and  people ;  but  the  people,  according 
to  Caesar,  were  all  slaves.  Clanship  prevailed.  The 
chief  rulers  were  elected,  but  only  the  nobles  partici- 
pated in  the  choice.  Among  the  Germans  there  was 
a  simple  and  almost  pure  republic.  Their  kings  and 
chiefs  were  elected  by  universal  suffrage.  The  general 
assembly  of  the  people  chose  the  village  magistrates, 
and  decided  all  important  questions.  Minor  affairs  were 
regulated  by  what  Americans  would  call  town  meet- 
ing, gatherings  of  all  the  men  of  a  community.  There 
was  no  private  ownership  of  land,  but  annually  certain 
farms  were  allotted  by  the  magistrates  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  a  single  crop.* 


*  Motley's  "  Dutch  Republic,"  i.  4-11.    Green's  "  Making  of  Eng- 
land," chap.  iv. 


104  THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

Thiis,  in  their  earliest  historic  period  these  two  races 
stand  ont  in  marked  contrast.  Time  has  softened  some 
of  their  primitive  traits,  while  others  have  entirely  dis- 
appeared; and  yet  to-day  the  Irishman,  the  Scotch 
Highlander,  the  Belgian,  and  the  Frenchman  show  their 
Gallic  blood,  while  the  Germanic  origin  of  the  English- 
man and  the  Hollander  is  no  less  apparent.* 

In  the  Netherlands  there  was  naturally  a  considera- 
ble intermingling  of  race.  The  Germans  made  their 
way  into  the  southern  provinces,  giving  to  the  people 
there  something  of  a  toughness  of  fibre  unknown  among 
the  other  Celts.f  On  the  other  hand,  many  thousands 
of  the  Flemings  and  Walloons,  especially  during  the 
war  with  Spain,  flocked  into  Holland,  carrying  w^ith 
them  a  skill  in  the  manufactures  and  the  arts  superior 
to  that  of  their  northern  neighbors.  Still,  in  the  main, 
the  southern  provinces,  Avhich  at  last  remained  attached 
to  Spain  and  the  papacy,  were  peopled  by  Celts,  and 
the  northern  ones  which  became  Protestant  and  re- 
publican, by  men  of  Germanic  origin. 

Of  all  the  nations  of  Germanic  descent,  the  Holland- 
ers preserved  most  faithfully  their  ancestral  spirit.    The 


*  The  Gauls  were  Celts  of  the  same  race  as  the  inhabitants  of  Ire- 
land and  Britain.  In  Ireland,  the  Celtic  blood  has  remained  pre- 
dominant; so  it  also  lias  in  AVales  and  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 
In  England,  it  gave  way  largely,  some  historians  claim  almost  en- 
tirely, before  the  Anglo-Saxons.  It  is  probable  that  even  the  Celts 
were  not  the  original  inhabitants  of  any  of  these  countries.  They 
had  driven  out  the  former  occupants,  and  in  the  time  of  Caesar  were 
in  turn  being  pushed  on  by  the  Germanic  tribes  who  had  reached 
the  Rhine. 

t  Thus,  for  example,  Charlemagne  planted  several  thousand  Saxon 
colonists  on  the  west  coast  of  Flanders.  Hutton's  "  James  and 
Philip  Van  Arteveld,"  p.  1. 


ANCIENT    EOME   AND   MODERN    CIVILIZATION  105 

early  Batavians  pass  from  history,  but  they  melt  into 
the  Frisians,  whose  name  is  synonymous  with  liberty, 
nearest  blood-relations  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  When 
Charlemagne  established  his  dominion  they  came  into 
the  empire  and  accepted  chiefs  of  his  appointment,  but 
they  were  still  governed  according  to  their  own  laws. 
The  feudal  system,  which  stifled  liberty  in  so  many  re- 
gions, never  was  imposed  on  them.  "  The  Frisians," 
said  their  statute-books,  "shall  be  free  as  long  as  the 
wind  blows  out  of  the  clouds,  and  the  world  stands."  * 

With  the  political  history  of  the  E"etherlands  down  to 
the  time  of  their  great  war  with  Spain,  we  need  con- 
cern ourselves  but  little.  It  is  sufRcient  for  our  purpose 
to  briefly  trace  the  general  outline,  and  sketch  some  of 
the  more  salient  features,  the  chief  interest  centring 
about  the  development  of  their  material  prosperity  and 
the  growth  of  their  institutions.  But  before  entering 
upon  these  subjects,  one  fact  must  be  noticed  which, 
often  overlooked  or  not  given  its  due  prominence,  fur- 
nishes the  key  to  much  of  Continental  as  well  as  of 
English  history  during  and  just  subsequent  to  the  pe- 
riod which  we  call  the  Middle  Ages. 

When  discussing  the  subject  of  the  Roman  civil  law 
in  the  Introduction,  a  brief  allusion  was  made  to  the 
high  civilization  attained  by  the  Romans,  and  its  in- 
fluence on  modern  Europe.  Hereafter,  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  history  of  England,  we  shall  see  how 
much  of  this  civilization  was  introduced  into  Britain, 
and  how  it  was  utterly  blotted  out  by  the  Anglo-Saxon 
conquerors.     On  the  Continent,  however,  the  overthrow 


*  Motley,  i.  23.     The  Asega  book,  contaiuiDg  their  statutes,  is  still 
extant. 


106        THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

of  the  old  governments  was  followed  by  a  very  different 
condition  of  affairs.  In  Britain,  the  conquerors  cleared 
the  soil  before  them,  supplanting  the  former  occupants, 
aud  introducing  their  own  language.  The  movement, 
though  slow,  taking  a  century  and  a  half  for  its  com- 
pletion, was  that  of  the  avalanche  carrying  destruction 
in  its  path.  In  other  parts  of  Europe,  the  conquerors 
settled  down  peaceably  among  the  conquered,  to  a  large 
extent  adopted  their  life,  and  finally  were  themselves 
absorbed.  Applying  the  test  of  speech,  we  see  which 
race  became  predominant  from  the  simple  fact  that  the 
French,  the  Spanish,  and  the  Italian  tongues  are  the 
languages,  not  of  the  new-comers,  the  Franks,  the  Goths, 
and  the  Lombards,  but  of  the  people  whom  they  found 
upon  the  soil.  The  effect  in  these  countries  was  more 
like  that  of  a  river  overflowing  its  banks;  the  waste 
may  for  a  time  seem  universal,  but  when  the  flood  sub- 
sides, the  face  of  nature  remains  substantially  unchanged. 
It  is  this  fact,  the  difference  between  the  conquest  of 
Britain  and  that  of  the  Continent,  which  must  be  kept 
in  view  when  we  think  of  the  Dark  Ages  which  suc- 
ceeded the  barbarian  irruption.  They  were  verv  dark 
in  England,  which  then  received  its  modern  name,  and 
the  gloom  lasted  there  almost  undisturbed  for  many  cen- 
turies ;  but  the  hue  was  quite  different  upon  the  Conti- 
nent, where  the  ancient  civilization  still  survived.  Look- 
ing through  colored  glasses,  it  is  but  natural  to  confuse 
the  shading  of  the  landscape.  Hence  the  Englishman 
or  American,  if  he  would  view  the  Middle  Ages  on  the 
Continent  aright,  must  disabuse  his  mind  of  many  no- 
tions derived  from  reading  English  history  alone.* 


*  "  Parchment  and  paper,  printing  and  engraving,  imi^roved  glass 
and  steel,  gunjDowder,  clocks,  telescopes,  the  mariner's  compass,  the 


CAUSES    OF   NETHERLAND  CIVILIZATION  107 

Let  US  now  see  if  we  can  account  in  any  measure  for 
the  high  civihzation  which  undoubtedly  prevailed  in 
the  ]!^etherlands  at  the  time  of  their  revolt  from  Spain. 
This  is  a  question  which  has  probably  excited  the  in- 
terest of  every  one  who  has  paid  any  attention  to  their 
history,  for  writers  like  Davies  and  Motley  have  left  it 
substantially  undiscussed,  leading  some  critics  to  con- 
sider their  descriptions  overdrawn. 

The  first  Germanic  and  Gallic  inhabitants  of  this 
country  must  have  learned  much  from  Eome.  As  we 
have  seen,  the  Batavian  Island  was  for  many  years  an 
important  base  of  Eoman  military  operations.  Many 
of  its  natives  held  high  posts  in  the  imperial  army,  and 
brought  home  some  of  the  culture  of  the  capital.  The 
Menapians,  who  occupied  the  present  provinces  of  Flan- 
ders and  Antwerp,  also  shared  in  the  benefits  of  this? 
connection.  The  remains  of  their  ancient  towns,  dis- 
covered in  places  at  present  covered  by  the  sea,  often 
bring-  to  lig-ht  traces  of  Eoman  constructions  and  Latin 
inscriptions  in  honor  of  the  Menapian  divinities.  Even 
at  this  period  the  l^etherlanders  were  a  maritime  people, 
exporting  salt  to  England,  and  salted  meat  (which  was 
in  high  repute)  to  Italy.  The  men  were  handsome  and 
richly  clothed ;  and  the  land  was  well  cultivated,  and 
abounding  in  fruits,  milk,  and  honey.*  Later  on,  when 
the  Eoman  empire  went  down,  they  had  as  near  neigh- 
bors on  the  south  the  quick-witted  Franks,  and  on  the 


reformed  calendar,  the  decimal  Botation,  algebra,  trigonometiy, 
chemistry,  counterpoint — whicli  was  equivalent  to  a  new  creation 
of  music — these  are  all  possessions  which  we  inherit  from  that  which 
has  been  so  disparagingly  termed  the  stationary  period." — Whewell's 
"  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  i.  331.  None  of  them,  as  every 
reader  knows,  came  from  England.  *  Grattan,  pp.  20-25. 


108        THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

east  was  Germany,  the  head  of  the  renewed  empire, 
still  preserving  some  portion  of  the  ancient  civilization, 
and  very  soon  to  gain  much  more.  There  were  to  grow 
up  the  cities  of  the  Hanseatic  League,  the  pioneers  of 
modern  progress,  of  which  famous  confederation,  formed 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  several  of  the  towns  of  Hol- 
land were  among  the  earliest  members.* 

But  more  important  than  all  were  the  close  relations 
which  the  ISTetherlands  maintained  with  Italy.  To  ap- 
preciate the  influence  of  this  connection,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  Italy  never  became  barbarian.  The 
race  was  not  Teutonized ;  that  is  to  say,  not  crushed  and 
transformed  to  anything  like  the  same  degree  as  the 
people  of  the  other  European  countries  by  the  invasion 
of  the  northern  tribes,  f 

In  the  end,  the  Italians  might  have  shared  the  fate 
of  their  contemporaries,  and  have  lost  their  civilization 
under  the  slow,  brutalizing  influence  of  the  conquerors ; 
but  this  disaster  was  largely  averted  by  the  results 
which  followed  in  the  train  of  the  Crusades.     In  1096, 


*  "  The  Hansa  Towns,"  Zimmern,  p.  214. 

t  "  The  barbarians  established  themselves  on  the  soil  temporarily 
or  imperfectly.  The  Visigoths,  the  Franks,  the  Heruli,  the  Ostro- 
goths, all  abandoned  it  or  were  soon  driven  away.  If  the  Lombards 
remained  there,  they  rapidly  profited  by  the  Latin  culture.  In  the 
twelfth  century  tlie  Germans,  under  Frederic  Barbarossa,  expecting 
to  find  men  of  their  own  race,  were  surprised  to  find  them  so  Latin- 
ized, having  discarded  the  fierceness  of  barbarians  and  taken  from 
the  influences  of  the  air  and  soil  sometliing  of  Roman  finesse  and 
gentleness  ;  having  preserved  the  elegance  of  the  language  and  tlie 
urbanity  of  primitive  manners,  even  imitating  tlie  skill  of  the  an- 
cient Romans  in  the  constitution  of  their  cities  and  in  the  govern- 
ment of  their  public  affairs.  Latin  is  spoken  in  Italy  uj)  to  the 
thirteenth  century." — Taine's  "  Art  in  Italy,"  p.  28. 


ITALY   AND    THE    NETHERLANDS  109 

Peter  the  Hermit  led  out  the  first  of  the  vast  horde 
of  visionary  enthusiasts  who  for  centuries  poured  into 
Asia  Minor,  whitening  two  continents  with  their  bones 
in  the  chivaMc  attempt  to  redeem  the  holy  sepulchre. 
These  gigantic  expeditions  brought  to  the  greater  part 
of  Europe  only  a  fearful  loss  of  life  and  property,  com- 
pensated for  mainly  by  the  impoverishment  of  the  no- 
bles, which  aided  in  breaking  up  the  feudal  system. 
Upon  Italy,  however,  the  effect  was  very  different. 
There  dwelt  the  head  of  the  Church,  who  acted  as  guar- 
dian for  all  the  pilgrims,  regulated  their  movements,  and 
levied  a  general  tax  on  the  faithful  laity  of  Europe  to 
sustain  the  wars  against  the  infidels.  This  tax,  known 
as  Saladin's  Tenth,  poured  an  unfailing  stream  of  treas- 
ure into  Eorae ;  while  the  people  of  all  Italy  were  also 
acquiring  wealth  by  furnishing  the  crusaders  with  sup- 
plies and  transportation  to  the  Holy  Land. 

Still  more  important,  however,  was  the  impetus  given 
to  commerce  by  this  opening-up  of  the  unknown  regions 
of  the  East.*  In  1295,  Marco  Polo,  with  his  father  and 
uncle,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
returned  to  Yenice,  bringing  back  their  fairy  tales  of  the 
wonders  of  far  Cathay,  and  the  whole  of  the  Old  World 
was  spread  out  before  these  enterprising  merchants.  It 
was  the  commerce  thus  developed  that  built  up  the  Ital- 
ian republics,  and  bred  the  race  of  merchant  princes  who 
made  the  Italy  of  the  Renaissance  the  mother  of  liter- 
ature, art,  and  science. 

It  is  probable  that  the  connection  between  the  I^eth- 


*  The  crusaders  introduced  silk  and  sugar  into  Europe.  They 
also  introduced  the  windmill,  which,  invented  in  Asia  Minor  and 
transported  to  the  Netherlands,  was  to  prove  of  untold  value  in  the 
development  of  that  country.     See  Gibbon,  vi.  193. 


110      THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

erlands  and  Italy  was  never  broken ;  if  it  was,  the  re- 
establishment  occurred  at  a  very  early  day.  "We  find 
that  the  guilds  to  manufacture  salt  and  for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  under  cultivation  marshy  grounds  ascend  to 
the  Koman  epoch.*  From  the  seventh  and  ninth  centu- 
ries Bruges,  Antwerp,  and  Ghent  are  "  ports  "  or  privi- 
leged markets.  They  fit  out  cruisers  for  the  whale  fish- 
ery ;  they  serve  as  the  entrepots  for  the  JSTorth  and  the 
South.f  The  first  crusade  owed  its  success  in  a  great 
degree  to  the  valor  and  prudence  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon, 
a  Flemish  knight,  who,  it  is  said,  took  the  field  with  ten 
thousand  horsemen  and  eighty  thousand  infantry.  In 
1272  there  were  so  many  Genoese  in  Flanders  that 
Charles  of  Anjou  asks  to  have  them  banished ;  but  pub- 
lic opinion  is  too  strong,  and  their  expulsion  is  found  to 
be  impracticable.  Some  twenty  years  later  Phihp  the 
Fair  of  France  compels  Guy  de  Dampierre  to  restore 
the  property  which  he  had  taken  from  the  Lombard 
merchants  settled  in  Flanders.:}:  In  the  next  century 
we  find  a  large  number  of  Italians  from  Lombardy  liv- 
ing in  Middelburg,  where  they  establish  a  banking-house, 
soon  adding  commerce  in  gold  and  jewels.  Their  goods 
were  displayed  in  a  special  building  called  the  "  House 
of  the  Lombards."  Similar  houses  existed  in  other  cit- 
ies.! Ludovico  Guicciardini,  writing  in  1563,  says  that 
even  in  Zeeland,  though  few  persons  spoke  French  or 
Spanish,  there  were  many  who  spoke  Italian.  ||     In  the 


*  Moke's  "  Mceurs  et  Usages  des  Beiges,"  quoted  by  Taine. 
t  Taine's  "  Art  in  the  Netherlands,"  id.  84. 

I  Button's  "Van  Arteveld,"  chap.  ii. 

§  Havard's  "  Heart  of  Holland,"  chap.  xiii.     London  also  had  its 
Lombard  Street. 

II  This  writer,  who  is  the  leading  authority  upon  the  condition  of 


DEVELOPMENT    OF    AGRICULTURE  111 

sixteenth  century,  as  the  result  of  geographical  explora- 
tion, attention  was  called  to  botany,  and  public  botan- 
ical gardens  were  established.  Their  order  is  significant 
as  showing  the  influence  of  Italy :  Pisa,  1543 ;  Padua, 
1545 ;  Florence,  1556 ;  Rome  and  Bologna,  1568 ;  Ley- 
den,  1577 ;  Leipsic,  1580  ;  MontpeUier,  1597 ;  Paris,  1626 ; 
and  Oxford,  1680*  Thus  Holland  stands  but  thirty- 
four  years  behind  the  first  of  the  Italian  cities. 

These  illustrations  are  only  suggestive  of  the  relations 
between  the  countries,  of  which  we  shall  see  much  more 
hereafter.  To  trace  the  full  connection  would  involve  a 
large  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Keeping  now"  in  mind  the  character  of  the  country, 
its  early  occupants,  and  their  connection  wnth  the  civil- 
ization of  Italy,  the  course  of  their  development  can  be 
readily  understood. 

Beginning  with  the  earliest  form  of  industry,  what 
w^ould  be  the  natural  feeling  of  such  a  race  towards  the 
soil,  when  we  remember  that  it  w^as  their  own  produc- 
tion? One  of  the  commonest  lessons  of  experience  is 
that  men  hold  in  light  esteem  the  gifts  of  nature  w^hich 
come  to  them  without  an  effort.  The  mother's  favorite 
is  not  the  stalwart,  healthy  child  who  needs  no  care,  but 
the  weakling  or  the  cripple.  The  Germans,  and  to  some 
extent  the  Gauls,  wandering  through  their  Northern 
wilds,  where  land  was  to  be  had  by  taking,  looked  down 
on  agriculture  as  unworthy  of  a  freeman.  The  only  no- 
ble prizes  of  life  were  those  won  by  skill  or  courage. 


the  Netherlands  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  Florentine,  a  neph- 
ew of  the  famous  Italian  historian.  He  lived  in  the  Netherlands  for 
about  forty  years,  and  in  1563  published,  at  Antwerp,  an  extensive 
work  descriptive  of  the  manners,  customs,  institutions,  and  resources 
of  the  country. 

*  Whewell's  "History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  iii.  291. 


113       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

such  as  the  spoils  of  the  chase  or  battle.  But,  settled 
amid  the  everlasting  morasses  of  the  Netherlands,  where 
life  was  a  constant  struggle  with  the  elements,  these  men 
found  the  conquests  of  peace  no  less  diiScult,  and  there- 
fore no  less  honorable,  than  those  of  war.  Thus  with 
labor  ennobled,  the  natural  result  followed.  Curbing 
the  ocean  and  overflowing  rivers  with  their  dikes,  they 
came  to  love  the  soil,  their  own  creation,  and  to  till  it 
with  patient,  almost  tender  care. 

Hence,  as  farmers  and  gardeners,  breeders  of  fine  cat- 
tle and  horses,  they  early  took  the  place  which  they 
have  ever  since  maintained.  Even  in  the  fourteenth 
century  we  find  agriculture  taught  in  the  schools  of 
Flanders,  spade  husbandry  greatly  affected,  and  Flem- 
ish gardeners  and  cultivators  in  much  demand  in  all 
parts  of  Europe.*  Flax  and  hemp  were  grown  to  a 
large  extent ;  hops  were  cultivated  for  the  brewers ;  the 
gardens  supplied  pease,  beans,  vetches,  onions,  garlic,  and 
orache — a  vegetable  now  superseded  by  spinach — and 
the  orchards  apples,  pears,  and  cherries  in  abundance.f 

England,  until  a  comparatively  recent  time,  knew 
nothing  of  these  pursuits.  When  Catherine  of  Ara- 
gon  wished  for  a  salad,  she  was  compelled  to  send  for  it 
across  the  Channel  by  a  special  messenger.;]:  Furnish- 
ing the  court  with  salads,  the  Low  Countries,  in  time, 
gave  to  the  English  people  hops  for  their  beer,  cab- 
bages, carrots,  beets,  and  other  vegetables  for  their 
table,  flower- seeds  for  their  gardens,  large  cattle  for 


*  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld."     Many  Flemish  farmers  went  over  to  ' 
England,  to  the  alluvial  plains  of  East  Norfolk.     As  to  the  excel- 
lence of  Flemish  husbandry  for  over  six  centuries,  see  M'Culloch's 
Geographical  Dictionary,  article  "  Belgium." 

t  Button.  I  Hume. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  COMMERCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  113 

their  fields,  great  Flemish  mares  for  the  carriages  of  the 
aristocracy,  artificial  grasses  for  the  support  of  their 
stock  through  winter,  and  lessons  in  the  cultivation  of 
their  soil,  which  quadrupled  its  products.* 

Still,  though  pre-eminent  in  agriculture,  this  was  but 
a  minor  industry  among  the  IsTetherlanders.  Fighting 
the  water  for  a  home,  they  early  learned  their  power, 
and  the  humbled  ocean  became  a  servant  as  faithful  and 
almost  as  potent  as  the  fabled  genius  of  the  lamp.  In 
little  barks  they  explored  the  ISTorthern  seas,  sailed  up 
into  the  Baltic,  crept  around  the  coast  of  France  and 
Spain  into  the  Mediterranean,  became  the  best  sailors, 
built  up  the  largest  commerce,  and  early  took  rank  as 
the  foremost  merchants  of  the  world.  In  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, Bruges  is  a  great  commercial  centre ;  f  in  the  thir- 
teenth, it  is  the  first  commercial  city  of  Europe.:}: 

Why  their  commerce  developed  so  rapidly  is  obvious 
when  we  consider  the  growth  of  their  manufactures. 


*  Hume,  cliap.  xxxiii.,  fixes  the  date  of  the  introduction  of  vege- 
tables into  England  as  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIH.  Even  then  they  made  progress  very  slowly,  being  used  mainly 
for  medicinal  purposes.  Cabbages  were  first  grovrn  in  England 
during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Southerden  Burn,  p.  257.  See  also 
Wade's  "History  of  England  Chronologically  Arranged,"  i.  156. 
He  says  that  asparagus,  cauliflovper,  artichokes,  etc.,  were  introduced 
about  1603. 

"  Hops,  reformation,  bays,  and  beer 
Came  into  England  all  in  one  year." 
— Old  English  rhyme,  quoted  Southerden  Burn,  p.  205.    See  Rogers's 
"  Story  of  Holland  "  as  to  instruction  in  agriculture. 

t  "  The  Hansa  Towns,"  p.  163. 

X  Motley,  i.  37.  Seebohm's  "  Protestant  Revolution,"  17.  The  lat- 
ter work,  American  edition,  contains  an  interesting  map,  showing 
how  all  the  routes  of  commerce  by  sea  and  land  centred  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. 

I.— 8 


114       THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Chief  among  these  manufactures  was  that  of  ^Yoollen 
cloth,  an  industry  so  important  to  Northern  nations 
that  its  introduction  marks  an  epoch  in  their  history, 
for  before  this  period  they  had  nothing  but  skins  as  ma- 
terial for  warm  clothing.  This  had  its  origin  in  Flan- 
ders, but  at  a  period  so  early  that  historians  cannot  fix 
the  date.* 

With  the  cloth  industry,  or  following  in  its  train, 
grew  up  the  manufacture  of  silk,  linen,  tapestry,  and 
lace,  which  made  Flanders  the  manufacturing  as  well  as 
the  commercial  centre  of  the  world.  Exporting  her 
fabrics  in  turn  increased  her  commerce,  and  there  were 
gathered  in  her  busy  marts  the  products  of  all  climes : 
drugs  and  spices  from  the  East ;  velvets  and  glass  from 
Italy ;  wines  from  France ;  furs,  metals,  and  wax  from 
Kussia,  Norway,  and  Sweden.  Nor  was  it  only  by  the 
ocean  that  this  early  trade  was  carried  on.  Following 
the  old  Roman  roads,  the  enterprising  Netheiianders 


*  Hallam,  writing  of  tlie  commerce  of  Europe,  says:  "The  north- 
ern portion  was  first  animated  by  the  woollen  manufactures  of  Flan- 
ders. It  is  not  easy  to  discover  the  early  beginnings  of  this,  or  to 
account  for  its  rapid  advancement.  The  fertility  of  that  province 
and  its  facilities  of  internal  navigation  were  doubtless  necessary 
causes ;  but  there  must  have  been  some  temporary  encouragement 
from  the  personal  character  of  its  sovereigns  or  other  accidental  cir- 
cumstances. Several  testimonies  to  the  flourishing  condition  of 
Flemish  manufactures  occur  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  some  might 
be  found  jjerhaps  earlier.  A  writer  of  the  thirteenth  century  asserts 
that  all  the  world  was  clothed  from  English  wool  wrought  in  Flan- 
ders. This,  indeed,  is  an  exaggerated  vaunt ;  but  the  Flemish  stuffs 
were  probably  sold  wherever  the  sea  or  a  navigable  river  iDermitted 
them  to  be  carried." — Hallam's  -'jMiddle  Ages,"  chap,  ix.,  part  2. 
Robertson  says  that  the  manufacture  of  wool  and  flax  seems  to  have 
been  considerable  in  the  Netherlands  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
Robertson's  "  Charles  V."  (Amer.  ed.  1770),  i.  69- 


THE  NETHERLANDS  IN  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY    115 

made  their  way  through.  France,  and  down  into  Spain, 
meeting  there  the  highly  civilized  and  cultivated  Moors, 
to  whom  they  probably  owed  many  of  their  improve- 
ments in  agriculture  and  the  arts.  Sailing  up  the  Ehine, 
they  kept  up  close  relations  with  the  Germans,  who, 
under  the  influence  of  Italy,  were  rapidly  stepping  to 
the  front  rank  among  civilized  peoples.  *  With  Italy 
itself,  which  divided  with  them  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  their  relations  grew  more  and  more  intimate,  for 
they  were  far  enough  apart  to  assist  rather  than  to  in- 
jure each  other's  trade,  and  hence  their  rivalry  was  de- 
prived of  bitterness. 

What  a  scene  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  ISTorthern 
Europe,  and  especially  with  England,  in  which  we  have 
the  greatest  interest,  must  have  been  presented  by  the 
Low  Countries  during  the  fourteenth  century  !  In  1370, 
there  are  thirty-two  hundred  woollen-factories  at  Malines 
and  on  its  territory.f  One  of  its  merchants  carries  on 
an  immense  trade  with  Damascus  and  Alexandria.  An- 
other, of  Yalenciennes,  being  at  Paris  during  a  fair,  buys 
up  all  the  provisions  exposed  for  sale  in  order  to  display 
his  wealth.  Ghent,  in  1340,  contains  forty  thousand 
weavers.  In  1389,  it  has  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
thousand  men  bearing  arms ;  the  drapers  alone  furnish 
eighteen  thousand  in  a  revolt.  In  1380,  the  goldsmiths 
of  Bruges  are  numerous  enough  to  form  in  war  time  an 
entire  division  of  the  army.:j:     At  a  repast  given  by  one 


*  See  Janssen's  "  History  of  Germany,"  for  an  account  of  its  condi- 
tion before  the  Reformation.  Also  Ltibke's  "  Hist,  of  Art,"  Am.  ed. 
ii.  1,  and  Giordano  Bruno  as  to  its  condition  about  1590,  before  the 
Thirty  Tears'  War  sent  it  back  to  semi-barbarism. 

t  Little  domestic  concerns  unlike  our  moderu  factories. 

X  Taine's  "  Art  in  the  Netherlands,"  p.  86. 


116      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

of  the  Counts  of  Flanders  to  the  Flemish  magistrates, 
the  seats  provided  for  the  guests  being  unfurnished  with 
cushions,  they  quietly  folded  up  their  sumptuous  cloaks, 
richly  embroidered  and  trimmed  with  fur,  and  placed 
them  on  the  wooden  benches.  "When  leaving  the  table 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  feast,  a  courtier  called  their  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  they  were  going  without  their 
cloaks.  The  burgomaster  of  Bruges  replied :  "  We 
Flemings  are  not  in  the  habit  of  carrying  away  the 
cushions  after  dinner."  The  queen  of  Philip  the  Fair, 
of  France,  on  a  visit  to  Bruges,  exclaimed  with  astonish- 
ment, not  unmixed  with  envy :  "  I  thought  myself  the 
only  queen  here ;  but  I  see  six  hundred  others,  who 
appear  more  so  than  I."  ^'  Commines,  the  French 
chronicler,  writing  in  the  fifteenth  century,  says  that 
the  traveller,  leaving  France  and  crossing  the  frontiers 
of  Flanders,  compared  himself  to  the  Israelites  when 
they  had  quitted  the  desert  and  entered  the  borders 
of  the  Promised  Land. 

Philip  the  Good  kept  up  a  court  which  surpassed 
every  other  in  Europe  for  luxury  and  magnificence.f  In 
1M4,  he  gave  at  LiUe  a  grand  pageant,  the  "  Feast  of 
the  Pheasant,"  such  as  the  modern  world  had  never  seen 
before.  His  son,  Charles  the  Bold,  married  the  sister  of 
the  King  of  England,  and  gave  in  her  honor  a  pageant 


*  Grattan's  "  History  of  the  Netherlands,"  p.  75,  Carey  &  Lea, 
Phil.,  1831. 

t  "  His  library  consisted  of  the  rarest  manuscripts  and  the  earliest 
specimens  of  printed  books,  splendidly  bound  and  illuminated ,  the 
nucleus  of  a  collection  which,  enriched  by  successive  additions,  is 
now  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  world."  His  collection  of 
gems  and  plate  was  said  to  be  the  finest  in  existence.  Kirk's  "  Charles 
the  Bold,"  i.  88. 


EXPANSION   OF    COMMERCE  117 

extending  over  many  days,  even  more  magnificent.  The 
English  visitors  wrote  home  that  it  realized  the  fairy 
tales  of  King  Arthur  and  his  Round  Table.*  As  Kirk 
well  says,  in  his  "  Life  of  Charles  the  Bold,"  "  the  luxuries 
of  life  come  before  the  comforts,"  a  truth  to  be  remem- 
bered when  we  come  to  view  the  Elizabethan  age  in 
England.  Eeading  of  her  two  or  three  thousand  gowns, 
the  revels  which  attended  her  royal  progresses,  the  costly 
garments  of  the  courtiers,  the  tapestry,  the  gold  and 
silver  plate  to  be  found  in  some  few  mansions,  we  should 
make  a  great  mistake  if  we  regarded  these  exhibitions 
as  proofs  of  an  advanced  civilization  or  of  national  com- 
fort. In  all  such  matters  of  luxury  and  display,  Eng- 
land of  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century  had  noth- 
ing to  compare  with  the  ISTetherlands  a  hundred  or 
even  two  hundred  years  before.  After  luxury,  come 
comfort,  intelligence,  morality,  and  learning,  which  de- 
velop under  very  different  conditions. 

In  the  course  of  time  even  Italy  was  outstripped  in 
the  commercial  race.  The  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the 
Turks,t  and  the  discovery  of  a  water  passage  to  the  In- 
dies, broke  up  the  overland  trade  with  the  East,  and  de- 
stroyed the  Italian  and  German  cities  which  had  flour- 
ished on  it.  Of  the  profits  derived  from  the  substituted 
ocean  traffic  with  the  Indies,  and  the  new  commerce 
with  America— the  commerce  which  helped  so  largely 
to  give  Spain  her  transitory  wealth  and  greatness — the 
Low  Countries,  acting  as  distributors,  obtained  more 
than  their  full  share.  Passing  from  the  dominion  of 
the  House  of  Burgundy  to  that  of  the  House  of  Austria, 


*  See  as  to  feasts  and  pageants,  one  witnessed  by  Albert  Diirer  in 
1520,  described  in  Taine's  "Art  in  the  Netherlands." 
t  1512, 1515,  and  1520. 


118      TDE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

^vhicli  also  numbered  Spain  among  its  vast  possessions, 
proved  to  them  in  the  end  an  event  fraught  with  mo- 
mentous evil.  Still  for  a  time,  and  from  a  mere  mate- 
rial point  of  view,  it  was  an  evil  not  unmixed  with  good. 
The  Netherlanders  were  better  sailors  and  keener  mer- 
chants than  the  Spaniards,  and,  being  under  the  same 
rulers,  gained  substantial  advantages  from  the  close  con- 
nection. The  new  commerce  of  Portugal  also  filled 
their  coffers  ;  so  that  while  Italy  and  Germany  were  im- 
poverished, they  became  wealthier  and  more  prosperous 
than  ever,  having,  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, absorbed  most  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world. 

As  I  have  already  pointed  out,  the  English,  down  to 
the  time  of  Elizabeth  and  until  educated  by  their  neigh- 
bors, knew  very  little  even  of  agriculture  except  in  its 
rudest  forms.  They  were  mainly  engaged  in  raising 
sheep,  and  their  wool,  with  that  from  Spain  and  Scot- 
land, w^ent  to  the  great  market  of  the  ISTetherlands.* 
The  wool-sack  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  says 
a  modern  writer,  symbolizes  the  period  in  which  sheep- 
raising  was  the  only  industry  of  the  people.  "When 
Philip  the  Good  founded  at  Bruges  his  new  order  of 
chivalry,  he  chose  as  an  emblem  a  golden  fleece.  The 
artisans  of  the  Netherlands  had  w^oven  the  w^ool  into 
gold.f 

With  wealth  pouring  in  from  all  quarters,  art  natu- 
rally followed  in  the  w^ake  of  commerce.  Architecture 
was  first  developed,  and  nowhere  was  its  cultivation 


*  Green's  "  History  of  the  English  People,"  vol.  i.  book  iii.  chap.  iv. 

t  Conway's  "  Early  Flemish  Artists,"  p.  57.  About  1380,  the  Eng- 
lish, taught  by  Netherland  emigrants,  first  began  to  make  coarse 
woollen  cloth.  Southerden  Burn's  "Protestant  Refugees  in  Eng- 
land," p.  4. 


ARCHITECTURE,  ECCLESIASTICAL   AND    SECULAR  119 

more  general  thaa  in  the  ITetherlands.  Our  knowledge 
of  the  Middle  Ages  is  still  so  imperfect  that  little  can 
be  said  with  certainty  about  the  men  who  designed  and 
the  workmen  who  constructed  the  superb  cathedrals, 
which,  scattered  over  jSTorthwestern  Europe,  protest 
against  our  supercilious  estimate  of  modern  progress, 
standing,  like  the  ruins  on  the  Nile,  mute  but  unim- 
peachable witnesses  to  a  former  civilization.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  these  structures  owe  their  origin  to  a  great 
secret  masonic  brotherhood,  league,  or  guild,  bound 
probably  by  religious  vows,  with  headquarters  in  France 
and  Germany,  and  branches  in  other  parts  of  Europe. 
To  a  branch  of  this  league  are  attributed  the  splen- 
did and  elaborately  finished  buildings  with  which  the 
l^etherlands  were  adorned  between  the  twelfth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries.*  Chief  among  these  buildings  were 
the  cathedrals  of  Flanders  and  Brabant,  some  of  which 
were  brilliant  masterpieces. 

But  the  Church  did  not  here,  as  in  most  other  lands, 
absorb  all  the  skill  and  genius  of  the  builders,  and  in 
this  fact  we  see  at  once  how  this  people  stand  apart 
from  their  contemporaries  in  Northern  Europe.  Else- 
where, in  the  North  at  least,  architectural  art  was  only 
a  handmaid  of  rehgion,  all  decoration,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  priesthood,  being  lavished  on  ecclesiastical 
structures,  because  the  Church  held  almost  all  the  knowl- 
edge and  controlled  a  large  share  of  the  wealth.  Here, 
however,  another  power  was  coming  to  the  front.  The 
merchants  and  manufacturers  Avere  generous   enough 


*  Motley's  "Dutch  Republic,"  i.  86,  551 ;  "  The  Arts  in  the  Middle 
Ages,"  La  Croix,  p.  377,  etc.  Tlie  first  architecture  from  Germany 
was  probably  Romanesque.  The  true  Gothic  came  from  the  Nor- 
mans in  France. 


120      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

towards  the  Church,  but  they  soon  passed  beyond  the 
stage  where  they  thought  it  entitled  to  all  their  treas- 
ures. Hence,  even  in  these  early  days,  secular  archi- 
tecture, one  of  the  best  measures  of  the  wealth  and 
refinement  of  a  nation,  had  attained  to  great  importance, 
covering  the  land  with  town -halls  and  other  public 
buildings,  which  are  still  the  delight  and  wonder  of  the 
artist.* 

England,  at  an  early  period,  had  her  cathedrals  built 
mainly  under  foreign  influences ;  but  we  look  there  in 
vain  for  any  sign  of  devotion  to  art  in  any  other  public 
structures,  until  we  come  to  comparatively  modern  days. 
"When  now  we  descend  to  the  dwellings  of  the  people, 
the  contrast  is  no  less  marked.  At  a  time  when  the  pri- 
vate houses  in  England  were  of  the  most  primitive  char- 
acter, differing,  as  to  the  middle  classes,  but  little  from 
those  described  by  Tacitus  in  his  "  Germania "  fifteen 
centuries  before,  the  cities  of  the  ISTetherlands  were 
studded  over  with  private  palaces  of  marble.f  Even 
in  the  thirteenth  century  the  principal  Flemish  towns 
contained  Turkish  baths,  their  streets  were  paved  and 
kept  in  good  order,  while  the  houses  of  the  wealthy 


*  "Burgher  opulence  and  energj'  are  grandly  and  vigorously  ex- 
pressed in  the  secular  buildings  of  these  towns.  For  example,  we 
have  the  'Hall  of  the  Cloth-makers,'  now  the  Town  Hall  of  Yjires, 
1200-1364;  Town  Hall  at  Bruges,  begun  1284;  Council  House  at 
Bruges,  1377;  Council  House  at  Brussels,  1401-55;  the  still  more 
magnificent  Town  Hall  at  Louvain,  belonging  to  the  second  half  of 
the  fifteenth  century ;  and  that  at  Oudenarde,  built  in  1537-30." — • 
Liibke's  "  History  of  Art,"  ii.  24-27. 

t  In  what  is  known  in  history  as  the  "  Spanisli  Fury,"  in  1576,  the 
Spaniards  destroyed  in  Antwerp  alone  "  at  least  five  hundred  pal- 
aces, mostly  of  marble  and  hammered  stone."  —  Motley's  "  Dutch 
Republic,"  iii.  115. 


OIL-PAINTING    IN    THE   NETHERLANDS  121 

burghers  were  built  of  stone  and  supplied  with  chim- 
neys.* 

ISTor  was  the  contrast  with  the  English  dwellings 
confined  to  their  external  appearance  alone.  Entering 
those  of  the  Netherlanders,  one  would  have  seen  them 
filled  with  paintings,  tapestry,  linen,  brass,  and  costly 
furniture,  such  as  could  be  found  in  no  other  quarter  of 
the  globe.  Albert  Diirer  visited  the  country  in  1520. 
It  seems  by  his  "  Journal "  that  although  he  had  lived 
in  Italy,  he  was  lost  in  wonder  and  delight  at  the  mag- 
nificent buildings,  the  costly  furniture,  the  artistic  orna- 
ments, the  rich  clothing,  and  the  general  display  of 
wealth  and  splendor  which  he  found  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, f 

If  architecture  was  at  first  the  result  of  a  German 
and  then  of  a  Norman  or  French  impulse,  its  junior, 
painting,  was  probably  due  to  the  influence  of  Italy, 
although  exerted  through  the  medium  of  the  German 
cities  on  the  Rhine.   Here,  however,  the  pupil  more  than 


*  Hutton's  "Van  Arteveld." 

t  The  picture  of  John  Arnolfini  and  his  "wife,  one  of  the  treasures 
in  the  National  Gallery  at  London,  painted  by  Jan  Van  Eyck,  who 
was  born  about  1380,  shows  a  Flemisli  interior  which  is  very  sugges- 
tive. The  subjects  are  a  well-to-do  merchant  and  his  wife  standing 
in  their  bedroom  holding  hands.  The  furniture  consists  of  a  hand- 
some bedstead,  with  an  upright  carved  chair  by  the  side,  and  a 
carved  bench  along  the  wall.  Right  opposite  the  spectator  is  a  con- 
vex mirror  set  in  a  frame  adorned  with  little  medallion  paintings. 
In  the  centre  of  the  room  hangs  a  fine  bronze  chandelier,  and  be- 
yond is  a  glazed  window  with  an  orange  on  the  sill.  The  painting 
is  signed  "  Jan  Van  Eyck  was  here,"  and  no  certificate  could  be 
stronger  as  to  the  veracity  of  its  details.  See  Conway's  "Early 
Flemish  Artists,"  p.  149.  In  a  later  chapter  we  shall  see  how  Eng- 
lish houses  were  constructed  and  furnished,  even  in  the  days  of 
Elizabeth. 


123       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

repaid  the  master.  The  earhest  dawn  of  the  art  in 
modern  Europe,  as  shown  in  fresco  and  distemper,  is 
found  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Alps ;  but  modern 
painting  in  oil,  the  art  which  glows  on  the  canvas  of  a 
Raphael,  a  Titian,  or  a  Rembrandt,  had  its  origin  in  the 
JSTetherlands.  Most  authorities,  from  the  days  of  Yasari, 
have  credited  the  discovery  of  oil-painting  to  the  broth- 
ers Van  Ej^ck,  Avho  painted  at  The  Hague,  Ghent,  and 
Bruges,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  and  the 
early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  This,  perhaps,  is 
not  exactly  correct,  for  oil  was  used  in  this  country  long 
before  their  era.  Nor  \vere  they  the  first  artists  of  the 
jSTetherlands  in  point  of  time.  For  centuries  the  churches 
had  been  filled  with  paintings  which  seem  to  have  pos- 
sessed considerable  merit.*  The  moist  climate,  however, 
has  worked  destruction  to  most  of  the  wall  productions, 
on  which  the  reputation  of  the  early  artists  was  based, 
so  that  we  can  judge  of  them  only  from  contemporane- 
ous reports,  t 

But  there  was  something  besides  the  climate.  The 
churches  of  Italy,  with  their  wide  walls  and  broad  roof 
spaces,  afforded  scope  for  fresco  decoration  which  was 
wanting  in  the  structures  of  a  Gothic  type,  with  their 
arches,  pillars,  and  groined  roofs.  Hence  the  Nether- 
land  paintings  were  of  a  different  class,  being  smaller 
and  mostly  executed  on  wooden  panels.  The  ground- 
work of  the  panel  was  prepared  with  a  thin  coating  of 
fine  plaster,  and  upon  this  coating  the  colors  were  laid, 


*  In  1143,  a  fire  consunied  the  principal  churches  in  Utrecht  and 
destroyed  "a  number  of  magnificent  paintings." — -Davies's  "Hol- 
land," i.  41. 

t  We  have  a  few  excellent  Flemish  wall  paintings,  and  some  meri- 
torious panel  pictures  of  the  fourteenth  century.     Conway,  p.  126. 


THE   VAN   EYCK   BROTHERS  AND    THEIR    WORKS  123 

being  mixed  with  the  white  of  an  egg  or  the  juice  of 
unripe  figs.  Oil  was  employed,  but  its  use  was  attended 
with  great  disadvantages.  It  was  difficult  to  lay  the 
colors  finely  with  it,  and  they  took  a  long  time  to  dry. 
For  this  reason  it  was  never  used  in  the  finished  part  of 
the  work,  but  only  for  large  masses  of  drapery  and  the 
like.  The  great  objection  to  this  process  lay  in  the  fact, 
not  then  discovered  to  its  full  extent,  however,  that  in 
time  the  whole  mass  flaked  off,  leaving  nothing  but  the 
bare  surface  of  the  panel.  To  the  Van  Eyck  brothers 
is  due  the  credit  of  remedying  this  defect.  They  mixed 
some  substance,  probably  resin,  with  boiled  oil,  and 
found  that  they  now  had  a  medium  which  dried  with- 
out exposure  to  the  sun,  and  with  w^hich  the  finest  and 
most  delicate  work  could  be  accomplished.  Using  this 
substance,  the  plaster  on  the  panel  was  interpenetrated 
with  the  varnish,  and  the  whole  wrought  so  finely  to- 
gether that  at  last  the  surface  became  like  enamel,  and 
it  is  generally  next  to  impossible  to  detect  the  traces  of 
the  brush.*  The  discovery  of  the  Van  Eycks  not  only 
gave  paintings  a  finer  character,  but  made  them  sub- 
stantially indestructible  by  time.  It  was  carried  to  Italy 
by  the  artists  from  that  country,  who  in  great  numbers 
were  then  studying  in  the  Netherlands,  and  a  century 
later  was  brought  to  completion  in  the  studios  of  Yenice 
under  the  hands  of  Titian  and  his  fellows. 

The  Yan  Eyck  brothers  are,  however,  entitled  to  much 
greater  honor  than  that  of  discovering  a  new  process  in 
art.  They  were  the  crowning  figures  in  a  school  which 
nad  been  in  existence  for  two  or  three  centuries  at  least, 
and  they  were  the  greatest  painters  of  the  age.f  Together 


*  Conway's  "Early  Flemish  Artists,"  pp.  116-119. 

t  "  Their  era,"  says  Liibke,  "  is  so  glorious,  so  untrammelled  and 


124         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

they  painted  the  world-renowned  picture  of  the  "  Ado- 
ration of  the  Lamb,"  at  St.  Bavon's  Church,  in  Ghent. 
The  finest  part  of  this  grand  work  is  attributed  to  the 
elder  brother,  Hubert,  who  was  born  in  136G ;  but  tne 
remainder,  conceded  to  the  younger,  is  also  of  extraor- 
dinary merit.  Looking  at  this  picture,  and  at  the  later 
paintings  of  the  younger  brother,  we  feel  that  we  have 
come  into  a  new  world  of  art.  Here  are  no  longer  mere 
personified  qualities  or  abstractions,  as  among  the  Ital- 
ians, but  real  human  beings,  men  painted  as  they  looked 
on  earth.  Hence  we  have  in  Jan  Van  Eyck  the  origi- 
nator of  the  modern  school  of  portrait-painters,  in  which 
Flanders  and  Holland  were  to  lead  the  world.  But  there 
is  something  more  about  these  pictures.  Viewing  the 
paintings  which  precede  this  era,  we  find  as  a  back- 
ground for  the  figures  nothing  but  a  plain  surface  or  a 
mass  of  gilt.  In  the  "  Adoration  of  the  Lamb,"  we  see 
for  the  first  time  a  fine  landscape  as  a  background.* 
This  innovation  also  marks  an  epoch.  Thenceforth  the 
painters  of  the  Low  Countries  abjured  their  gilt;  the 
background  becomes  from  year  to  year  more  important, 
until  Joachim  Patinier,  born  in  1490,  makes  it  the  prom- 
inent feature  of  his  pictures,  and  becomes  the  founder 
of  the  modern  ISTorthern  school  of  landscape  painting.f 

Thus  we  find  that  painting  follows,  among  this  peo- 
ple, the  same  course  as  its  elder  sister,  architecture.  In 
France  it  was  said  that  only  what  was  executed  for  the 
Church  or  king  was  art.:}:     This  was  true  of  most  coun- 


magnificent,  that  the  corresponding  period  in  Italy  scarcely  bears 
comparison  with  it."  —  "  History  of  Art,"  ii.  420-429.  Conway's 
"  Early  Flemish  Artists  ;"  Eastlake's  "  History  of  Oil -Painting  ;" 
Taine's  ''Art  in  the  Netherlands,"  etc. 

*  Conway,  p.  271.  t  Liibke,  ii.  452. 

J  Grimm's  "  Life  of  Michael  Angelo,"  ii.  53. 


CHARACTER  OF  NETHERLAND  ART  125 

tries.  It,  however,  ceased  to  be  true  in  the  Netherlands 
at  an  early  date.  We  have  seen  how  it  was  with  archi- 
tecture. Even  in  the  churches,  it  has  been  objected  that 
the  pure  Gothic  design  was  somewhat  sacrificed  to  the 
convenience  of  the  worshippers.  These  people  believed 
that  churches  were  designed  for  man,  and  they  there- 
fore made  them  comfortable  for  the  masses ;  they  be- 
lieved that  art  was  for  every-day  use,  and  so  applied  it 
to  their  town-halls  and  dwellings,  and  made  it  the  com- 
panion of  the  fireside.  It  is  this  homelike  quality  which 
distinguishes  the  great  pictures  of  the  Dutch  and  Flem- 
ish schools.  In  other  lands  the  artists  revelled  in  vis- 
ions of  imaginary  loveliness,  choosing  as  subjects  scenes 
in  which  youth  and  beauty  usually  play  the  leading 
parts.  The  Netherlanders  loved  above  all  things  verity, 
and  transferred  to  the  canvas  what  they  saw  around 
them.  They  valued  character  and  intellect  above  mere 
beauty  of  form,  and  so  preferred  as  subjects  for  their 
portraits  faces  which  tell  a  story.  As  a  rule,  these  faces 
are  not  handsome,  but  they  belong  to  men  who  look  as 
if  they  had  lived  and  had  accomplished  something  in 
the  world.* 

For  a  time,  after  the  death  of  the  Yan  Eycks  and 
their  immediate  successors,  Italian  art  took  the  lead, 
and  unfortunately  many  of  the  Netherland  painters 
wasted  their  lives  in  the  vain  attempt  to  work  against 
their  nature  by  an  imitation  of  this  foreign  school.  Still, 
there  flourished  in  the  Low  Countries,  during  the  whole 
of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  a  great  number 


*  "Plato  was  quite  right  in  making  the  Beautiful  the  splendor  of 
the  True,  and  this  would  be  now  the  best  definition  of  Flemish  and 
Dutch  painting." — Gambetta,  in  an  unpublished  letter  from  Brus- 
sels, 1873.     London  Times,  July  8th,  1889. 


136       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

of  artists  whose  works  would  take  high  rank  but  for  the 
marvellous  productions  of  Italy  during  the  same  period. 
At  last  came  the  mighty  struggle  with  Spain,  which  gave 
independence  to  the  seven  northern  provinces.  Great 
as  were  the  political  and  religious  consequences  of  this 
struggle,  no  less  marked  were  its  results  on  art.  The 
people  learned  their  strength,  became  entirely  self-reli- 
ant, gained  intellectual  as  well  as  political  independence, 
developed,  perfected,  and  enlarged  the  schools  founded 
by  the  Yan  Eycks  two  centuries  before,  put  away  for- 
ever saints  and  Madonnas,  and  astounded  as  they  de- 
lighted the  world  with  portraits,  landscapes,  marine 
views,  pictures  of  flowers,  fruit,  cattle,  sheep,  horses,  in- 
teriors of  all  descriptions — in  fact,  representations  of  ev- 
erything in  nature  or  in  life  that  could  instruct,  elevate, 
arouse,  or  cheer  mankind.  Such  a  period  of  exaltation 
comes  but  rarely  to  a  nation.  It  came  to  England  after 
the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  and  gave  to  the 
world  the  literature  which  has  made  the  Elizabethan 
age  so  famous.  There  it  culminated  in  poetry,  for  the 
Englishmen  of  that  day  were  poetical  and  imaginative. 
In  the  Netherlands  it  culminated  in  painting,  because 
the  people  were  artistic. 

How  the  artistic  element  permeated  all  classes  of  so- 
ciety is  shown  by  the  beauty  of  their  products  in  every 
department  of  the  mechanical  arts.  Little  has  come 
down  to  us  of  the  old  Flemish  jewelry,  but  it  is  spoken 
of  as  perhaps  the  finest  goldsmith's  work  of  which  we 
have  a  record.*  In  the  manufacture  of  fine  furniture 
they  were  unexcelled,  and  their  laces,  silks,  brocades, 
carpets,  and  rugs  had  a  world-wide  reputation.  First 
among  all  these  manufactured  products  stood  the  tapes- 

*  Conway,  p.  85. 


WOOD-ENGRAVING  AND    PRINTING   INVENTED  127 

tries  woven  on  the  looms  of  Flanders.  These  have  never 
been  equalled  for  beauty  or  for  finished  workmanship. 
JS'umbers  of  them  still  survive,  some  with  tints  almost 
as  fresh  as  when  they  were  woven  four  or  five  centuries 
ago.  ISTothing  could  bear  higher  witness  not  only  to 
the  technical  perfection,  but  to  the  artistic  spirit  as  well, 
which  in  this  case  ennobled  manufactures.* 

The  story  of  the  development  of  art  in  the  ITether- 
lands  is  an  interesting  one,  as  bearing  on  the  prog- 
ress of  society  and  the  expansion  of  the  idea  that 
there  was  a  community  outside  the  priesthood  and 
nobility.  Architecture  first  becomes  secularized;  next 
painting  steps  down  from  the  clouds  and  sits  by  the 
hearthstone  of  the  burgher ;  then  the  artist  displays  his 
skill  on  the  furniture,  the  ornaments,  and  the  dress  of 
these  merchants  and  manufacturers.  Finally  comes  the 
step  which  leads  off  into  an  undiscovered  and  untried 
ocean. 

The  common  people,  those  who  cannot  afford  to  pay 
for  oil-paintings,  want  pictures  for  their  houses.  ,  The 
demand  creates  the  supply.  The  ingenious  ISTetherland- 
ers  discover  that  from  blocks  they  can  reproduce  on  pa- 
per pictures  in  black  and  white,  and  wood  -  engraving 
is  invented.f      From  the  Low  Countries  the  invention 


*  Liibke,  ii.  452.  Raphael's  celebrated  cartoons  for  the  Sistine 
Chapel  were  sent  to  Arras  to  be  woven. 

t  According  to  La  Croix, "  The  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  488, 
wood-engraving  originated  in  Holland,  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
fourteentli  century.  One  of  the  earliest  specimens  now  extant  exists 
at  Brussels,  and  is  claimed  to  have  been  executed  at  Malines  in  1418. 
Some  authorities,  however,  assert  that  this  is  antedated,  and  that 
an  engraving  done  in  Suabia  in  1423  is  the  first  well-authenticated 
specimen  now  in  existence.  Linton's  "  Masters  of  Wood-Engrav- 
ings." 


128        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

rapidly  spreads  through  Europe,  meeting  with  favor  es- 
pecially in  Germany,  where  the  population  had  in  some 
sections  many  of  the  same  characteristics.* 

Following  wood-engraving,  and  as  its  natural  supple- 
ment, came  the  printing  of  books  from  blocks.  This 
originated  from  the  desire  of  popularizing  knowledge 
as  engraving  was  popularizing  art.  Some  of  the  early 
specimens  are  rude  enough,  but  in  others  the  work  is 
exquisite  of  finish.  The  letters  were  cut  on  a  single 
block  of  wood,  and  then  this  block  was  used  to  print 
from,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  stereotype  plate  of 
modern  times.  The  next  step  was  to  substitute  mova- 
ble type  for  the  solid  piece  of  wood,  and  we  have  the 
printing-press,  which  has  revolutionized  the  world.  Ger- 
many, on  the  present  evidence,  will  never  concede  the 
honor  of  this  invention  to  a  Hollander,  but  its  germ  lay 
in  the  block  books  to  which  Holland  lays  unquestioned 
claim.  It  was,  in  truth,  but  following  to  its  legitimate 
conclusions  the  lessons  of  the  architects  who  built  the 
exquisite  town -halls,  the  artists  who  painted  portraits 
and  landscapes,  and  the  engravers  who  reproduced  pict- 
ures from  their  blocks  —  that  beauty  and  truth  are  for 
the  masses,  and  not  alone  for  a  chosen  few. 

In  addition  to  painting,  there  was  another  department 


*  How  wide-spread  was  the  love  of  art  in  the  Netherlands  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  when  Albert  Diirer  visits  the  country  in 
the  sixteenth  century  he  pays  his  expenses  in  part  by  selling  his 
engravings,  the  small  ones  being  retailed  at  prices  which  brouglit 
them  within  the  means  of  the  humblest  workman.  See  his  "Journal.'" 
It  is  also  interesting  to  notice,  in  this  connection,  that  while  Rem- 
brandt at  a  later  day  received  large  prices  for  his  paintings,  he  also 
made  money  from  his  etchings,  which  he  carried  to  great  perfec- 
tion. 


MUSIC    IN   THE   NETHERLANDS  129 

of  art  in  which  the  IsTetherlanders  stood  supreme.  As 
musicians  they,  for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  had  no 
rival.  Other  people  cultivate  music ;  to  them  it  seems 
an  instinct.*  What  is  known  as  the  Netherland  School 
is  divided  into  four  epochs.  It  begins  with  William 
Dufay,  of  Hainault,  who  was  a  tenor  singer  in  the  Sis- 
tine  Chapel  from  13S0  to  1432,  and  whose  masses  are 
still  preserved  at  Eome.  The  next  great  master  was 
John  Okeghem,  of  East  Flanders.  He  began  to  be  cele- 
brated about  1470,  and  has  been  called  the  "patriarch 
of  music,"  being  the  inventor  of  the  canon,  and  in  gen- 
eral of  artificial  counterpoint.  The  school  reached  its 
zenith  in  the  fourth  epoch  with  Adrian  Willaert,  who 
was  born  at  Bruges  in  1490  and  died  in  1562.  During 
this  period,  covering  nearly  two  centuries,  the  Nether- 
lands furnished  all  the  courts  of  Europe  not  only  with 
singers,  but  with  composers  and  performers  of  instru- 
mental music.  They  founded  in  IvTaples  the  first  musi- 
cal conservatory  of  the  world,  and  another  in  Yenice  at 
about  the  same  time.  It  was  also  to  their  influence  and 
example  that  the  renowned  school  of  Rome  owed  its  ex- 
istence.f  With  the  Reformation,  all  this  came  to  a  speedy 
end.  The  higher  class  of  music  was,  until  the  days  of 
the  modern  opera,  reserved  almost  entirely  for  religious 
purposes.  It  was  not  easy  to  secularize  it,  and  when,  af- 
ter many  years,  the  time  came  for  doing  so,  the  people 
of  the  Low  Countries  had  lost  their  former  supremacy. 
Still,  they  have  never  lost  their  love  for  music.  To-day, 
the  great  musical  endowment  of  an  ability  to  sing  in 
parts  is  encountered  even  among  the  populace :  the  coal- 


*  See  Taine's  "Art  in  the  JSTetherlands." 

t  Hitter's  "  History  of  Music,"  pp.  75,  87,  108 ;    "  EncyclopjEdia 
Britannica,"  article  "  Music." 
I.— 9 


I 

130       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

miners  organize  choral  societies ;  the  laborers  in  Ant- 
werp and  Brussels,  and  the  ship-calkers  and  sailors  of 
Amsterdam,  sing  in  chorus  and  in  true  time  while  at 
work,  and  in  the  street  on  returning  home  at  night.* 

Here  we  may  close  this  chapter,  and  with  it  our  gen- 
eral view  of  the  material  and  artistic  side  of  the  Nether- 
land  prosperity  and  progress.  The  result  is  a  striking 
one,  in  view  of  the  little  attention  which,  until  a  recent 
date,  has  been  paid  to  this  people  by  the  historians  of 
other  nations.  They  took  no  great  part  in  wars ;  since 
the  dissolution  of  the  Batavian  Legion  they  had  neither 
made  nor  unmade  emperors ;  but  before  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century  they  had  conquered  almost  all 
the  fields  of  industry  and  art.  When  the  people  of 
England  were  just  beginning  their  wonderful  career  of 
modern  progress,  these  men  across  the  Channel  stood 
foremost  of  the  world  in  agriculture,  manufactures,  com- 
merce, engraving,  and  music,  while  they  had  only  parted 
temporarily  with  the  crown  of  painting,  which,  adding 
that  of  learning,  they  were  to  resume  after  Holland  had 
won  her  independence. 


*  Taine's "Art  in  tlie  Netherlands,"  p.  58. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   NETHERLANDS   BEFORE    THE   WAR   WITH    SPAIN 

THE  GUILDS,  THE  TOWNS,  THE  STATE,  EDUCATION,  RELIGION, 
AND  MORALS 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  attempted  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  rapid  advance  made  by  the  Netherlanders 
in  the  industrial  pursuits  and  in  the  arts,  down  to  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  important  ques- 
tion now  arises.  What  was  the  effect  of  this  material 
prosperity  and  devotion  to  art  on  the  love  of  liberty  and 
the  religious  spirit  which  we  should  look  for  in  this  peo- 
ple, as  an  inheritance  from  their  Germanic  ancestors  ? 

This  question  is  of  interest  from  many  points  of  view. 
Thoughtful  men  in  all  ages  have  been  more  or  less  in- 
clined to  accept  their  civilization  under  protest.  So 
much  is  said  of  its  enervating  influence,  and  such  stress 
is  laid  upon  the  virtues  of  the  early  heroes  who  lodged 
in  huts  and  devoured  raw  flesh  for  food,  that  men  have 
sometimes  asked,  is  it  not  better  that  we  should  return 
to  a  state  of  nature  if  we  wish  to  keep  bright  the  flame 
of  liberty  ?  In  its  religious  aspect  the  subject  is  still 
more  important.  Many  of  the  English  Puritans  were  as 
intolerant  as  any  of  their  opponents,  looked  down  on 
art,  suspected,  if  the}^  did  not  despise,  refinement  of 
manners,  and  seemed  bent  on  weeding  joy  and  beauty 
out  of  life,  as  if  their  seeds  had  been  implanted  by  the 
arch-enemy  of  man.     These  men,  in  many  respects  such 


133       THE    PUEITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

unworthy  professors  of  a  gospel  of  love,  are  sometimes 
held  up  as  examples  of  earnestness  in  religion,  the  theory 
that  they  were  superior  in  this  respect  to  other  people 
of  their  time,  and  that  their  descendants  have  degener- 
ated from  their  early  virtues,  underlying  much  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  history  as  written  in  some  quarters. 

The  e£Fect  of  this  teaching  must  be  pernicious  in  its 
tendency,  unless  the  proper  corrective  be  applied.  The 
men  and  women  of  the  present  generation  are  coming 
to  use  the  world  in  which  they  live,  and  to  enjoy  its 
beauty  and  its  gladness.  The  young,  often  more  ear- 
nestly thoughtful  than  their  elders,  accept  the  pleasures 
of  life,  but,  with  the  grim  visages  of  their  vaunted  an- 
cestors before  them,  are  inclined  at  times  to  feel  that  joy 
is  somehow  sinful,  and  must  be  paid  for  in  the  end. 
Looking  only  at  the  history  of  England,  seeing  the  ex- 
cesses against  which  Puritanism  w^as  there  a  protest, 
dwelling  on  the  virtues  of  our  ancestors  and  not  sharply 
enough  distinguishing  their  faults,  all  this  is  natural 
enough.  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  the  typical  English  Puri- 
tan, as  described  by  some  writers,  with  his  long,  sad  face, 
suspicion  of  joy  and  beauty,  narrowness  of  mind,  and  in- 
tolerance of  the  beliefs  of  others,  was  the  embodiment  of 
earnestness  itself,  and  that  his  descendants,  so  far  as  they 
differ  from  him,  are  moving  down  to  a  lower  plane.*  A 
broader  view  of  history,  however,  will  dispel  this  delu- 
sion, and  nowhere  can  a  better  corrective  be  found  than 
in  the  story  of  the  IN'etherlands. 

Here  were  a  people  with  largely  the  same  blood  as  the 


*  See  Carlyle's  "  Cromwell,"  and  other  writings  of  the  same  school. 
Carlyle,  it  may  be  noticed,  habitually  speaks  of  the  Hollanders  as 
"  low-minded  Dutchmen,"  because  they  did  not  sympathize  with  all 
the  excesses  of  the  English  Puritans. 


DUTCH   AND  ENGLISH  PURITANISM  133 

» 

English,  and  with  the  same  inherited  traits  of  charac- 
ter, but  educated  under  very  different  conditions.  When 
now  we  consider  their  earnestness  for  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  the  record  of  the  two  nations  can  scarcely  be 
compared.  Some  of  the  English  Puritans  fled  across  the 
Atlantic  from  a  slight  religious  persecution,  and  founded 
a  ]Srew  England.  Others  remained  at  home,  fought  their 
king  in  a  few  pitched  battles,  and  established  a  common- 
wealth, which  in  eleven  years  went  ,to  pieces,  simply 
because  the  people  were  unfitted  for  self-government. 
The  Puritans  of  Holland  battled  for  their  liberties  dur- 
ing four  fifths  of  a  century,  facing  not  alone  the  bravest 
and  best-trained  soldiers  of  the  age,  but  flames,  the  gib- 
bet, flood,  siege,  pestilence,  and  famine.  Every  atrocity 
that  religious  fanaticism  could  invent,  every  horror  that 
ever  followed  in  the  train  of  war,  swept  over  and  deso- 
lated their  land.  To  speak  in  the  same  breath  of  the 
hardships  or  sufferings  of  the  English  Puritan,  as  if  they 
served  to  explain  his  unlovely  traits  of  character,  seems 
almost  puerile. 

Out  from  this  war  of  eighty  years'  duration  emerged 
a  republic,  for  two  centuries  the  greatest  in  the  world — 
a  republic  which  was  the  instructor  of  the  world  in  art, 
and  whose  corner-stone  was  religious  toleration  for  all 
mankind.  Its  people  had  endured  everything  for  civil 
liberty  and  for  the  Protestant  religion ;  but  they  wore  no 
long,  sad  faces,  nor  did  they,  either  at  home  or  in  Amer- 
ica, put  men  to  death  for  differing  from  them  in  relig- 
ion. In  view  of  their  story,  the  pernicious  theory  that 
earnestness  in  religion  or  devotion  to  the  principles  of 
self-government  makes  men  joyless,  haters  of  art,  or  per- 
secutors of  their  fellows  should  be  consigned  to  the 
abysmal  darkness  whence  it  came.  Such  a  doctrine  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  cant  of  history. 


134       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

The  English  Puritans,  both  at  home  and  in  America, 
exhibited  great  quahties,  for  which  they  should  receive 
all  honor ;  but  they  also  exhibited  defects,  so  glaring  as, 
in  the  minds  of  many  persons,  almost  to  obscure  their 
virtues.  The  defects,  however,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
sprang  from  the  condition  of  English  society  under  which 
its  Puritanism  was  developed.  To  charge  them  to  the 
age,  as  if  all  the  world  were  in  the  same  condition,  is  an 
offence  against  historic  truth ;  but  that  offence  is  light 
compared  with  the  crime  of  charging  them  to  religion 
or  to  the  love  of  republican  institutions. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  form  of  government  estab- 
lished in  the  Netherlands  prior  to  the  great  revolt  from 
Spain,  then  at  the  condition  of  the  people  in  relation  to 
education,  religion,  and  morals.  This  is  necessary  to  an 
understanding  of  the  nature  and  results  of  that  wonder- 
ful struggle,  and  a  comprehension  of  the  mode  in  which 
the  Dutch  Puritans  became  the  instructors  of  their  Eng- 
lish brethren. 

In  1555,  the  Emperor  Charles  Y.,  broken  by  the  gout 
and  wearied  of  the  cares  of  state,  retired  to  private  life. 
Pefore  entering  the  monaster}^  in  which  he  was  to  pass 
the  remainder  of  his  days,  he  turned  over  to  his  son  and 
heir  almost  all  the  vast  possessions  which,  wielded  by 
his  sturdy  arm  and  directed  by  his  genius,  had  made  him 
the  foremost  monarch  of  the  age.  His  successor,  Philip 
II.  of  Spain,  became  by  this  cession  king  of  all  the  Spanish 
kingdoms  and  of  both  the  Sicilies — "  Absolute  Domina- 
tor,"  according  to  the  high-flown  language  of  the  day,  in 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America — Duke  of  Milan  and  of  both 
the  Burgundies,  and  hereditary  sovereign  of  the  seven- 
teen provinces  of  the  ISTetherlands.  The  last  was  the 
richest  and  fairest  jewel  in  his  crown.  Of  the  five  mill- 
ions poured  annually  into  the  royal  treasury,  two  came 


THE    NETHERLAND    PROVINCES  135 

from  these  provinces,  while  only  half  a  million  came 
from  Spain,  and  a  like  sum  from  Mexico  and  Peru.* 

The  seventeen  provinces  at  this  time  composing  the 
^Netherlands  were  so  many  separate  states.  Each  had 
an  hereditary  ruler,  called  a  duke,  marquis,  count,  or 
baron — titles  which  centuries  before  had  been  held  by 
different  persons.  'Now  one  person  held  them  all,  but 
still  each  state  maintained  its  individuality  and  had  its 
own  government,  as  the  American  colonies  had  theirs 
before  the  Revolution.  As  the  King  of  England  ap- 
pointed governors  for  the  American  colonies,  so  in  the 
l*Netherlands  the  superior  lord,  now  Philip  of  Spain,  ap- 
pointed governors,  or  stadtholders,  to  represent  his  sover- 
eignty in  the  various  provinces,  and  a  regent  to  control 
the  whole.  "Within  the  provinces,  again,  were  the  cities 
and  towns,  each  of  which  had  its  separate  charter,  some 
of  them  so  liberal  as  to  make  them  virtual  republics.f 
The  population  of  all  the  provinces  was  estimated  at 
three  millions.:}:  Three  millions  of  people,  according  to 
Motley,  the  most  industrious,  the  most  prosperous,  per- 
haps the  most  intelligent,  under  the  sun.  § 

The  southern  states,  which  in  the  end  remained  at- 
tached to  Spain,  w^ere  at  this  time  the  more  populous 
and  wealthy.     Those  in  the  north,  however,  were  rap- 


*Motley,  i.  112. 

t  In  the  seventeen  provinces  were  208  wulled  cities,  150  chartered 
towns,  and  6300  villages.     Motley,  i.  91. 

I  About  one  fourth  as  large  as  at  present.  All  estimates  of  popu- 
lation in  the  days  before  a  regular  census  was  taken  are,  however, 
vague  and  only  approximate.  That  of  England  at  this  time  is  fixed 
by  Green  at  from  five  to  six  millions,  while  Macaulay  places  it  no 
higher  a  century  later.  Prof.  Tliorold  Rogers,  probably  the  best 
authority,  estimates  the  population  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Eliz- 
abeth at  only  two  millions  and  a  half     Time,  March,  1890. 

§  Motley,  i.  90. 


136        TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

idly  stepping  to  tlie  front,  and  the  long  war  which  they 
were  about  to  wage  with  Spain  established  their  pre- 
eminence in  all  departments.  Plolland,  in  particular, 
had  founded  an  industry  of  surpassing  value.  In  1414, 
a  humble  fisherman,  Jacob  Beukelszoon,  of  Biervliet,  in 
Zeeland,  by  one  of  the  practical  inventions  of  Avhich  his 
people  were  to  give  so  man}^  to  the  world,  had  opened  up 
in  the  sea  a  mine  of  wealth  richer  than  all  the  mines  of 
Mexico  or  Peru.'  It  was  simply  a  novel  and  easy  method, 
still  in  use,  of  drying  and  packing  fish.  Two  years  later 
the  first  large  herring  seine  was  manufactured.'-  Thence- 
forth the  fisheries  of  Holland,  at  a  time  when  almost  all 
the  world  abstained  from  meat  in  Lent  and  on  ev- 
ery Wednesday  and  Friday,  became  of  vast  importance. 
Not  only  did  they  bring  into  the  country  an  endless 
stream  of  gold,  but  they  nurtured  the  brave  and  skilful 
seamen  who  aided  so  much  in  building  up  the  great  re- 
public, t  Half  a  century  after  this  invention,  Philip  of 
Burgundy,  writing  to  the  pope,  said  that  "  Holland  and 
Zeeland  were  inhabited  by  a  brave  and  warlike  people, 
who  have  never  been  conquered  by  their  neighbors,  and 
who  prosecuted  their  commerce  on  every  sea."  :{: 


*Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  195.  Authorities  differ  as  to  this  claim  of 
Beukelszoon,  there  being  no  proof  in  the  records  that  he  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  process,  which,  however,  originated  in  Biervliet  about 
his  time.  Rogers's  "  Story  of  Holland,"  p.  27.  Of  more  importance  is 
the  statement  that  the  great  impulse  to  the  fisheries  of  Holland  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  about  1425  the  herring  first  began  to  spawn  in 
tlie  German  Ocean.     "  The  Hansa  Towns,"  by  Helen  Zimmern,  p.  49. 

fit  should  be  mentioned  to  the  honor  of  Charles  V.  that,  being  in 
1550  at  Biervliet,  wliere  Beukelszoon  was  buried,  he  visited  the  grave 
and  ordered  a  magnificent  monument  to  be  erected  to  the  memory 
of  the  man  who  had  rendered  so  signal  a  service  to  his  country.  Ed- 
inburgh Review,  July,  1830,  p.  419. 

X  "  La  Richesse  de  la  Holland,"  i.  26. 


THE    WALLED    TOWNS    IN    THE   MIDDLE    AGES  137 

Such  was  the  general  condition  of  the  JN'etherlands 
when  by  the  abdication  of  Charles  V.  they  passed 
to  his  successor.  That  successor  never  understood  the 
people  committed  to  his  rule,  knew  nothing  of  their 
spirit,  and  could  not  comprehend  why  they  so  insisted 
on  their  civil  and  religious  rights.  Throughout  the  rest 
of  Europe,  the  feudal  tyranny  having  passed  away,  the 
monarchs  w^ere  absorbing  all  the  power.  Such  was  the 
case  in  neighboring  France,  in  Spain,  where  Philip  was 
born  and  lived,  and  in  England,  where  he  found  a  wife. 
Why  should  he  not  govern  these  provinces  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  other  parts  of  his  dominions  ?  That  he 
could  not,  he  discovered  before  his  death.  To  under- 
stand why  he  could  not,  we  must  look  at  the  institutions 
of  the  country  with  some  care. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  early  history  of  the  Nether- 
lands when  liberty  -was  in  danger.  The  ancient  Ger- 
manic freedom  was  protected  chiefly  by  poverty  and 
isolation ;  but  when  men  began  to  cultivate  the  land, 
trade  with  one  another,  and  lay  up  wealth,  these  warders 
went  off  guard.  Had  this  people  then  been  devoted  to 
agriculture  alone,  the  results  would  probably  have  been 
as  disastrous  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  But  here 
commerce  and  manufactures  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
built  up  the  waited  towns  which  were  for  ages  the  cita- 
dels of  freedom.  The  growth  of  these  towns,  and  the 
municipal  institutions  there  developed,  form  the  principal 
feature  of  ISTetherland  history.  In  most  other  countries 
the  towns  were  mere  aggregations  of  individuals,  with 
privileges,  customs,  and  chartered  rights  more  or  less 
defined,  but  subject  to  the  general  government,  and 
comparatively  early  falling  under  national  control.  Here, 
on  the  other  hand,  when  once  established,  they  grew 
steadily  in  power  and  independence,  until  in  the  end  they 


138       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

became  almost  little  republics,  levying  their  own  taxes, 
electing  their  own  magistrates,  and  making  their  own 
laws. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  our  purpose,  nor  would  it  be 
an  easy  task,  to  trace  the  origin  of  these  towns  and  show 
the  methods  of  their  growth.  "Within  the  present  cen- 
tury considerable  attention  has  been  paid  to  these  sub- 
jects, but  much  yet  remains  to  be  accomplished.  All 
that  has  been  discovered,  however,  tends  more  and  more 
to  prove  the  influence  of  Rome,  in  this  as  in  other  mat- 
ters, upon  the  institutions  of  the  IsTetherlands.* 

The  city  of  Bruges  is  perhaps  typical  of  the  later 
towns  of  the  ^Netherlands,  and  its  origin  suggestive  of 


*  Savigny,  in  his  "  History  of  Roman  Law  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  and 
Raynouard,  in  his  "  Histoire  de  Droit  Municipal,"  have  traced  the 
continuance  of  municipal  institutions  in  some  ten  French  cities  from 
the  age  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  twelfth  century,  when  the  for- 
mal charters  of  communities  first  appear.  Hallam,  speaking  of  the 
French  cities  of  the  eleventh  century,  says :  "We  must  here  distinguish 
the  cities  of  Flanders  and  Holland,  which  obtained  their  independence 
much  earlier ;  in  fact,  their  self-government  goes  back  beyond  any  as- 
signable date.  They  appear  to  have  sprung  from  a  distinct  source, 
but  still  from  the  great  reservoir  of  Roman  institutions.  The  cities 
on  the  Rhine  retained  more  of  their  ancient  organization  than  we 
find  in  Northern  France.  The  Roman  language,  says  Thierry,  had 
here  perished,  the  institutions  survived.  At  Cologne  we  find,  from 
age  to  age,  a  corporation  of  citizens  exactly  resembling  the  curia, 
and  whose  members  set  up  hereditary  pretensions  to  a  Roman  de- 
scent ;  we  find  there  a  particular  tribunal  for  the  cessio  honorurn,  a 
part  of  Roman  law  unknown  to  the  old  jurisprudence  of  Germany, 
as  to  that  of  the  feudal  system.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  free  con- 
stitution of  Cologne  passed  for  ancient.  From  Cologne  and  Treves 
municipal  rights  spread  to  the  Rhenish  cities  of  less  remote  origin, 
and  reached  the  great  communities  of  Flanders  and  Brabant." — Hal- 
lam's  "Middle  Ages,"  vol.  i.  chap.  ii.  note  18,  ed.  1878. 


BRUGES  AND    ITS   ORIGIN— A   MODERN    TOWN  139 

the  mode  in  which  such  communities  arose.  Charlemagne 
planted  several  thousand  Saxon  colonists  on  the  west 
coast  of  Flanders,  partly  to  repel  the  incursions  of  the 
ISTorthmen,  and  partly  to  serve  as  hostages  for  the  orderly 
conduct  of  their  kinsmen  beyond  the  eastern  borders  of 
his  empire.  He  also  appointed  2iforestier,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  enforce  obedience  to  the  laws,  collect  imposts, 
and  preserve  the  royal  forests.  This  arrangement  was 
of  brief  duration.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
about  860,  a  rude  Flemish  chieftain,  Baldwin  of  the  Iron 
Arm,  ran  away  with  the  king's  daughter,  Judith,  but 
after  many  vicissitudes  was  taken  into  favor.  Flanders 
was  erected  into  a  county  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  France, 
and  conferred  on  the  bold  Baldwin,  with  the  title  of 
Markgraf,  or  Warden  of  the  Marches.  He  then  built  a 
castle,  commanding  a  bridge  over  the  little  river  Eeye, 
with  a  chapel  to  receive  certain  relics  of  St.  Donatus, 
sent  to  him  by  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims.  Outside  the 
walls  he  erected  houses  for  the  reception  of  merchants 
and  itinerant  traders,  and  laid  out  a  place  of  meeting  for 
freemen.  Thus  a  small  town  arose  under  the  castle 
walls,  which  took  the  name  of  Brugge,  from  the  bridge 
to  which  it  primarily  owed  its  existence.  This  toll-house 
on  the  river,  for  such  it  really  was,  developed  into  the 
city  of  Bruges,  which  in  the  tenth  century  had  a  large 
commerce,  and  in  the  thirteenth  was  the  commercial 
capital  of  Europe.* 

Bruges  was,  however,  a  modern  town.  It  grew  up  on 
a  trade  already  established,  for  the  country  had  mer- 
chants, and  commerce  from  which  toll  could  be  col- 
lected. Its  advantages  were  those  of  situation ;  these, 
and  not  its  antiquity,  gave  it  prominence.     Other  cities 


*  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld,"  cliap.  i. 


140      THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

in  the  interior  are  older,  and  it  is  through  them  that 
the  ideas  of  Eome  were  handed  down,  which,  mingled 
with  the  traditions  of  the  German  race,  built  up  the 
little  republics  that  studded  the  whole  surface  of  the' 
land. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  all  these  municipalities, 
that  which  more  than  any  other  gave  them  strength, 
was  the  system  by  which  the  citizens  were  divided  into 
guilds.  The  birthplace  of  this  institution  is  disputed; 
one  party  claiming  that  it  is  of  Germanic  origin,  the 
other  that  it  was  derived  from  Eome.  Perhaps  both  are 
right  in  part.  The  early  Germans  were  accustomed  to 
form  associations  for  mutual  protection  against  acci- 
dents by  fire  or  water  and  similar  misadventures.  These 
unions  were  called  Minne,  or  Friendships.  Hence  the 
word  Minnesingers  of  later  days.  After  a  time  the  name 
of  Minne  passed  into  that  of  Ghilde,  meaning  a  feast 
at  the  common  expense.  Each  ghilde  was  placed  under 
the  patronage  of  some  departed  hero  or  derai-god,  and 
was  managed  by  officers  elected  by  the  members,  social 
equality  lying  at  its  foundation.*  With  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  the  demi-god  was  replaced  by  a 
saint,  but  the  clergy  frowned  on  the  associations,  which 
led  to  much  intemperance.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the 
guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages,  according  to  some  authori- 
ties, and  for  those  of  a  social  and  charitable  nature  we 
need  look  no  further.  But  the  guilds  which  were  of 
chief  importance,  those  which  characterized  the  cities  of 
the  Netherlands,  were  associations  among  members  of 
the  same  trade  for  industrial  purposes,  and  these  seem 
rather  to  have  come  from  Eome. 

The  Eomans  exercised  the  right  of  association  from  a 


*  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld,"  chajj.  i. 


THE   GUILDS-THEIR   ORIGIN  141 

very  early  time,  and  it  is  asserted  that  N uma  encouraged 
the  formation  of  craft-guilds,  of  which  Plutarch  enumer- 
ates nine.  Exercised  voluntarily  under  the  republic,  the 
right  became  somewhat  curtailed  under  the  empire,  and 
the  collegia,  as  they  were  called,  were  limited  by  im- 
perial decree.*  Yet  they  became  very  numerous,  not 
only  in  Eome,  but  throughout  the  rest  of  the  empire, 
especially  in  the  East,  in  Italy,  and  in  Gaul.  Many  of 
these  associations  were  organized  for  good-fellowship, 
some  for  religious  purposes,  others  to  provide  for  burial, 
but  the  most  important  were  those  formed  for  trade  and 
manufactures.  Thus  we  find  at  l^aples  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury a  soapmakers'  guild,  and  in  the  ITetherlands  at  the 
same  period  one  for  making  salt.  In  Rome,  the  collegia 
were  mostly  confined  to  the  poorer  classes,  but  in  the 
provinces  they  numbered  among  their  members  not 
only  wealthy  tradesmen,  but  also  nobles.  All  chose  their 
own  officers,  made  their  own  laws,  and  paid  contribu- 
tions to  a  common  fund.f 

The  Germanic  guilds  and  the  Roman  collegia  were 
thus  much  alike ;  and  in  one  or  the  other,  or  in  both  com- 
bined, we  see  the  original  of  many  of  the  institutions  of 
the  Middle  Ages  and  of  later  times.  Out  of  the  Germanic 
guilds,  formed  for  mutual  protection,  insurance,  and 
social  purposes,  grew  the  Anglo-Saxon  hundreds,  where 
each  member  was  responsible  for  the  actions  of  all  the 
others.  From  the  same  source  came  the  social  guilds 
which  before  the  Reformation  were  so  numerous  in  Eng'- 
land,  there  being  over  nine  hundred  in  the  county  of 


*  Trajan  was  much  opposed  to  thera.  See  "  Letters  of  tlie  Younger 
Pliny,"  X.  34. 

t  For  a  short  account  of  the  Roman  guilds,  see  "  Encyclopsedia 
Britannica,"  article  "  Guild,"  and  authorities  cited. 


142        THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND  AMERICA 

Norfolk  alone.  In  the  IS^etherlands  these  old  Germanic 
associations  seem  gradually  to  have  assumed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  towns.  However,  when  this  came  about, 
they  had  lost  their  ancient  name,  and  were  no  longer 
called  guilds,  but  communes,  embracing  all  who  were 
entitled  to  gather  together  in  the  public  place  when 
the  town  bell  rang  out  the  summons.  Thenceforth,  the 
name  guild  was  limited  to  the  trade  or  manufacturing 
associations,  which  seem  to  have  had  more  of  a  Eoman 
origin. 

On  being  admitted  a  member  of  his  craft-guild,  each 
workman  took  an  oath  to  uphold  divine  worship,  and  to 
serve  his  count  loyally  and  with  all  his  might.  For 
misconduct  he  was  liable  to  punishment,  while  he  was 
entitled  to  a  pension  after  a  certain  term  of  honorable 
service.  Within  the  guild,  there  reigned  the  most  perfect 
equality,  each  member  being  part  of  a  machine.  Wages 
and  prices  were  regulated  by  the  deacon  or  head  man. 
Hours  of  labor  were  precisely  defined,  so  that  no  em- 
ployer could  steal  a  march  on  a  competitor.  Among 
the  weavers,  all  the  wool  was  bought  by  the  guild  and 
distributed  on  terms  of  strict  impartiality.  In  each 
workshop  the  number  of  looms  was  limited,  and  no  em- 
ployer was  allowed  to  lure  away  the  workmen  of  another. 
A  master  workman,  as  a  rule,  could  not  employ  more  than 
three  journeymen  at  a  time.  A  citizen  of  another  town 
had  great  difficulty  in  getting  into  a  craft-guild,  unless 
it  could  be  shown  that  extra  hands  were  really  needed. 
The  competition  aimed  at  was  that  of  trade  against 
trade,  town  against  town,  province  against  province,  the 
Low  Countries  against  the  world,  and  not  that  of  indi- 
vidual against  his  feUow.  With  all  these  restrictions 
upon  liberty  of  action,  the  most  extreme  care  was  used 
to  secure  efficiency  among  the  members  of  each  guild. 


THE    GUILDS,  THEIR   NUMBER   AND   INFLUENCE  143 

A  long  and  arduous  apprenticeship  was  required  before 
a  man  could  become  a  workman.  Every  mistake  was 
punished  with  a  fine,  and  any  glaring  violation  of  mo- 
rality or  infringement  of  the  law  by  expulsion  from  the 
order. 

Each  of  these  trades-companies  had  its  own  chapel, 
and  generally  its  own  hospital,  as  well  as  its  herberg,  or 
house  of  call,  in  which  were  preserved  its  charters  and 
other  public  documents.  The  members  made  their  own 
internal  laws,  and  discussed  collectively  all  matters  re- 
lating to  their  common  interests.  Each  association  was 
presided  over  by  a  deacon,  or  dehen,  elected  by  the  mem- 
bers, but  rarely  from  among  their  ranks.  Each  had  its 
own  tribunal,  from  whose  decision  there  was  no  appeal. 
Thus  the  guilds  formed  little  republics  within  the  com- 
munes or  towns,  greatly  curtailing  individual  freedom  of 
action,  but  giving  a  strength  of  co-operation  much  needed 
in  the  rude  age  of  feudal  tyranny.  By  the  fourteenth 
century  they  had  become  so  numerous  that  we  find  fifty- 
two  at  Bruges  and  fifty-nine  at  Ghent.* 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  with  its  hurry  and  bustle, 
the  anxiety  of  every  man  to  make  more  money  than 
his  neighbor,  and  the  blind  admiration  of  accumulated 
wealth,  the  guild  system  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  seems  like  a  peaceful  dream.  The  competition 
of  modern  times,  the  outgrowth  of  the  ideas  of  individ- 
ual freedom  inherited  from  our  Germanic  ancestors,  has, 
perhaps,  made  life  easier  to  live,  but  has  taken  away 
much  of  the  charm  of  living.  These  craftsmen  of  the 
Middle  Ages  were  trained  to  do  good  work,  for  love  of 


*  Hutton's  "Van  Arteveld,"  chap.  v.  They  existed  in  all  the  towns. 
In  1367  there  were  over  forty  in  Dordrecht.  Geddes's  "John  De 
Witt,"  i.  14. 


144        TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

it,  from  pride  in  their  handicraft,  and  not  from  a  desire 
for  great  wages  that  in  time  Avould  enable  them  to  rise 
in  the  social  scale.  It  was  honor  enough  to  be  a  good 
workman,  and  that  reputation  secured  all  the  comforts  of 
existence.  The  same  spirit  extended  through  all  classes, 
and  has  always  characterized  the  ISTetherlanders.  They 
are  shrewd  enough  at  a  bargain,  are  industrious  and  fru- 
gal, but  they  have  never  displayed  the  feverish  anxiety 
to  get  riches  which  is  the  curse  of  England  and  America. 
Their  merchants  and  manufacturers  have  alwaj^s  taken 
time  to  cultivate  literature,  science,  the  arts,  and,  above 
all,  the  domestic  virtues.  In  the  days  when  the  guilds 
were  in  their  glory  there  was  much  less  distinction  be- 
tween the  rich  and  the  poor  than  exists  at  present.  The 
guild  -  houses  were  something  like  our  modern  clubs, 
where  all  the  members  stand  on  terms  of  equality. 
There  the  younger  workmen,  accompanied  by  their 
wives,  met  their  seniors  and  employers ;  there  they  en- 
tertained strangers  of  their  own  craft,  exchanged  ideas, 
and  developed  a  sentiment  of  comradeship  which,  while 
it  gave  strength  to  their  order,  also  gave  a  feeling  of 
contentment  wdiich  is  unfortunately  rare  in  modern  life.* 
Albert  Diirer  has  left  a  charming  account  of  the  re- 
ception given  him  in  1520  by  the  Painters'  Guild  at 
Antwerp.     "  On  Sunday,"  says  he,  "  the  painters  invited 


*  Probably  no  reader  needs  to  be  reminded  how  the  modern  world, 
reacting  from  the  do.ctrines  of  tlie  "Manchester  School,"  with  its 
motto,  "  The  race  to  the  swift,  and  tlie  devil  take  the  hindmost,"  is 
turning  back  towards  the  guild  system  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Our 
trades-unions,  which,  witli  all  their  imperfections,  have  been  of  ines- 
timable value  to  the  working  classes,  mark  a  step  in  this  direction. 
In  addition  is  the  modern  legislation  in  Germany  for  the  pensioning 
of  old  faithful  workmen,  and  that  proposed  in  England  for  their  in- 
surance. 


ALBERT  DiJRER   AND   THE   PAINTERS'   GUILD   OF  ANTWERP      145 

me  to  their  guild-hall  with  my  wife  and  maid-servant. 
They  had  a  quantity  of  silver  plate,  and  costly  furniture, 
and  most  expensive  food.  All  their  wives  were  with 
them,  and  as  I  was  led  in  to  the  table,  every  one  stood 
up  in  a  row  on  either  side,  as  if  they  had  been  bringing 
in  some  great  lord.  Among  them  were  men  of  very 
high  standing,  all  of  Avhom  behaved  with  great  respect 
and  kindness  towards  me."  While  at  table,  the  syn- 
dic of  the  magistrates  came  in  and  gave  four  cans  of 
wine,  saying  that  they  sent  it  to  do  him  honor.  ISText 
came  Master  Peter,  the  town  carpenter,  with  a  present 
of  two  cans  of  wine.  "  When  we  had  been  making  mer- 
ry together  up  to  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  they  accom- 
panied us  home  in  honor  with  lanterns,  and  prayed  me 
to  rely  confidently  on  their  good -will.  So  I  thanked 
them,  and  lay  down  to  sleep."  * 

For  the  most  part  each  guild  inhabited  a  separate 
quarter  of  the  town,  and  over  every  quarter  two  officers 
were  appointed  by  the  burgomasters,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  keep  a  list  of  all  men  in  their  districts  capable  of 
bearing  arms,  to  see  that  their  arms  were  in  readiness, 
and  to  assemble  them  at  the  order  of  the  magistrates,  or 
upon  the  ringing  of  the  great  town  bell.  Over  all  these 
officers  were  placed  two,  three,  or  four  captains  of  the 
burgher  guards.  When  the  town  bell  rang,  every  citi- 
zen was  bound  to  obey  the  summons,  at  any  hour  of  the 
day  or  night.  When  called  out  to  service  within  the 
walls,  the  several  guilds  acted  under  their  own  banner ; 
but  in  defence  of  the  state  they  were  accustomed  to 
march  under  the  standard  of  the  town,  and  dressed  in 
the  city  livery.  As  they  were  under  constant  drill,  had 
their  arms  always  ready,  and  were  thoroughly  organized, 


*  Albert  Diirer's  "  Journal." 
I.— 10 


146        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

it  was  the  work  of  an  incredibl}^  short  space  of  time  to 
man  the  walls  and  put  a  city  in  a  posture  of  defence.* 

The  towns  were  surrounded  by  walls,  ramparts,  and 
moats,  and  entered  through  massive  gates  with  portcul- 
lis and  drawbridge.  "Within,  the  streets  were  narrow 
and  tortuous,  to  lessen  the  advantage  of  cavalry,  archers, 
and  crossbow-men.  Many  of  the  houses  boasted  of  a  cir- 
cular tower,  the  upper  floor  of  which,  reached  only  by 
a  ladder,  afforded  a  temporary  retreat  to  the  household 
when  pursued  by  a  victorious  enemy,  foreign  or  domes- 
tic.f  Thus  protected,  and  with  a  population  every  mem- 
ber of  which  was  trained  to  the  use  of  arms,  liberty  found 
a  refuge  during  the  centuries  in  which  most  civil  rights 
were  elsewhere  crushed  under  the  iron  heel  of  force. 

Without  the  walls,  however,  the  cit}^  militia  could,  as 
a  rule,  make  little  stand  against  the  cavalry  and  heavy 
men  at  arms  of  the  feudal  barons.  Yet,  early  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  Flanders  was  a  fief  of  France, 
the  Low  Countries  taught  the  world  a  lesson  which  was 
never  entirely  forgotten.  Philip  the  Fair,  having  im- 
prisoned the  Count  of  Flanders,  determined  to  deprive 
the  Flemish  cities  of  their  chartered  rights,  and  to  rule 
there  as  he  ruled  at  home.  The  result  was  an  upris- 
ing of  the  burghers,  who,  in  1302,  under  the  walls  of 
Courtrai,  met  the  French  army  in  a  pitched  battle.  On 
the  one  side  were  the  picked  knights,  the  flower  of  the 
French  nobility;  on  the  other  a  collection  of  traders  and 
artisans,  merchants,  weavers,  and  butchers.  But  in  the 
marshy  ground  about  the  city  the  heavy  men  at  arms 
became  a  mob,  and  fell  Uke  cattle  before  the  long  pikes 
of  their  antagonists.   So  great  was  the  slaughter  of  belted 


*  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  80. 

t  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld,"  chap.  v. 


THE    CHARTERED    TOWNS  147 

knights  that  Flemish  chronicles  call  this  the  "Day  of 
the  Golden  Spurs."  For  the  first  time  the  feudal  sys- 
tem had  broken  down  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  gla- 
mour was  gone.  In  the  marshes  of  the  Netherlands  a 
new  force  had  been  developed,  which,  though  often  tem- 
porarily overpowered,  was  to  grow  m  strength  until  the 
final  struggle  with  the  whole  might  of  Spain.* 

Next  above  the  guilds  stood  the  organization  which 
they  looked  up  to  as  the  author  of  their  being  and  the 
protector  of  their  privileges — the  chartered  city  or  town. 
Many  of  these  towns  were  old,  with  prescriptive  rights 
of  long  continuance;  but  it  was  not  until  the  twelfth 
century  that  they  began  to  receive  the  written  char- 
ters which  formally  defined  and  guaranteed  their  lib- 
erties. These  charters  were  granted  by  the  counts  or 
lords  of  the  various  provinces,  were  sometimes  gained 
by  force,  oftener  bought  with  hard-earned  gold,  but  al- 
ways guarded  with  the  most  jealous  care.  Although 
differing  in  details,  these  instruments  were  in  their  main 
features  much  alike  through  all  the  seventeen  provinces. 
They  conferred  the  power  to  make  municipal  ordinances 
and  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  trade,  to  levy  taxes, 
administer  justice  in  all  civil  cases,  and  to  punish  the 
lower  grades  of  crime.  Even  the  right  to  inflict  capi- 
tal punishment  was  given  to  some  of  the  more  favored 
towns.  In  few,  if  any  of  them,  however,  was  there  an 
approach  to  a  democracy  in  later  times.  That  had 
passed  away  with  the  advance  of  wealth,  the  rich  mer- 
chants and  manufacturers  who  secured  the  charters  hav- 
ing generally  absorbed  the  power  originally  lodged  in 
the  whole  body  of  freemen.f    Still,  offices  were  held  for 


*  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld,"  chap.  iii. 

t  Liege,  however,  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century  elected  its  magis- 


148       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

short  terms,  and  in  Holland  special  regulations  were  in 
force  by  which  no  two  members  of  the  government  could 
be  within  a  certain  degree  of  consanguinity ;  thus  pre- 
venting the  whole  authority  from  being  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  families,  as  happened  in  the  cities  of 
Italy,  especially  those  of  Genoa  and  Florence.* 

Antwerp  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  large  towns 
of  the  lower  provinces,  and  its  form  of  government  il- 
lustrates the  amount  of  freedom  secured  there  in  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  At  that  time  it  had 
outstripped  Bruges,  and  had  become  the  commercial  cap- 
ital of  the  world.  Next  to  Paris  it  was  the  largest  city 
in  Europe.  In  its  superb  exchange  five  thousand  mer- 
chants were  daily  congregated.  At  its  wharves  twenty- 
five  hundred  vessels  often  lay  at  once,  and  five  hundred 
went  and  came  in  a  single  day.  Guicciardini  says  that 
the  city  contained  ten  thousand  carts  constantly  em- 
ployed in  carrying  merchandise  to  and  from  the  neigh- 
boring country,  besides  hundreds  of  wagons  for  pas- 
sengers, and  five  hundred  coaches  used  by  people  of 
distinction.f  Among  its  inhabitants  were  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four  goldsmiths  who  acted  as  bankers.  :|: 

trates  annuully  by  universal  suffrage,  all  male  citizens  above  the  age 
of  sixteen  having  the  right  to  vote,  and  being  eligible  to  office. 
Kirk's  "  Charles  the  Bold,"  i.  329. 

*  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  89. 

t  In  1564,  about  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  Guicciardini's  book, 
the  first  coach  was  introduced  into  England,  being  imported  from 
Holland  for  the  use  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Nathan  Drake's  "  Shake- 
speare and  his  Times,"  p.  415.  It  caused  great  astonishment  among 
the  islanders.  Some  said  it  was  "a  great  sea-shell  brought  from 
China;"  others,  "  that  it  was  a  temple  in  which  cannibals  worshipped 
the  devil." 

X  Many  of  the  merchants  were  possessed  of  enormous  wealth.  The 
Fuggers,  a  German  family  with  headquarters  at  Augsburg,  but  with 


ANTWERP   AND   ITS    GOVERNMENT  149 

The  sovereign  was  simply  "  Marquis  of  Antwerp,"  and 
was  sworn  to  govern  according  to  the  ancient  charters 
and  laws.  He  was  represented  by  a  stadtholder  as  an 
executive  officer.  There  were  four  bodies  or  estates  of 
the  city  which  managed  its  affairs.  First,  the  senate, 
half  of  whose  members  were  renewed  annually,  being 
appointed  by  the  stadtholder  from  a  quadruple  number 
nominated  by  the  senate  itself  and  by  the  deacons  of  the 
guilds  ;  second,  the  board  of  ancients  or  ex-senators ; 
third,  twenty  -  six  ward-masters,  selected  by  the  senate 
from  a  triple  number  on  nomination  by  the  wards; 
fourth,  fifty-four  deans  of  the  guilds,  also  selected  by 


a  branch  house  at  Antwerp,  furnish  the  most  notable  example  of  the 
vast  fortunes  accumulated  on  the  Continent  by  manufactures  and 
commerce  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Antony,  one  of  the  two  broth- 
ers, who  died  just  before  this  time,  left  six  million  gold  crowns,  be- 
sides jewels  and  other  valuable  property,  and  landed  iDossessions  in 
all  parts  of  Europe  and  in  both  the  Indies.  It  was  of  him  that  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.,  when  viewing  the  roj^al  treasures  at  Paris,  ex- 
claimed: "There  is  at  Augsburg  a  linen-weaver  who  could  pay  as 
much  as  this  with  his  own  gold."  Of  him  also  the  story  is  told 
that,  receiving  on  one  occasion  a  visit  from  the  emperor,  he  heated 
the  halls  of  liis  princely  dwelling  with  cinnamon-wood,  and  kindled 
the  fire  with  bonds  for  an  immense  sum,  representing  money  bor- 
rowed from  him  by  his  royal  guest.  In  wealth  the  Fuggers  were 
the  Rothschilds  of  their  time,  wliile  in  political  influence  they  far 
surpassed  this  modern  family.  Both  brothers  were  ennobled  by 
Charles,  and  in  1619  forty-seven  counts  and  countesses  were  num- 
bered among  their  descendants.  Later  on  some  of  them  became 
princes  of  the  empire,  and  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  their 
landed  estates  covered  about  four  hundred  and  forty  square  miles. 
Like  the  other  Continental  merchants  of  their  time,  Antony  and  his 
brother  Raimond  were  liberal  patrons  of  literature  and  the  arts. 
Their  houses  were  filled  with  rare  paintings  and  costly  books ;  they 
supported  artists  and  musicians,  and  founded  hospitals,  schools,  and 
charitable  institutions  almost  without  number. 


150       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

the  senate  from  a  triple  number  of  candidates  presented 
by  their  constituents.  These  four  branches  divided  be- 
tween them  most  of  the  functions  of  the  government. 
The  senate  sat  as  an  appellate  court,  and  also  appointed 
two  burgomasters,  two  pensionaries  or  legal  counsellors, 
and  all  lesser  magistrates  and  officials  of  the  city.  The 
chief  duty  of  the  ward-masters  was  to  enroll,  muster,  and 
train  the  militia.  The  deans  of  the  guilds  examined  can- 
didates for  admission  to  the  guilds,  and  settled  disputes 
among  the  members.  The  four  bodies,  when  assembled 
together,  constituted  the  general  court,  legislature,  or 
common  council  of  the  city ;  but  no  tax  could  be  imposed 
except  with  the  consent  of  all  four  branches,  voting  sep- 
arately.* As  the  guilds  had  long  before  this  time  passed 
under  the  control  of  the  wealthy  members,  and  as  the 
suffrage  was  confined  to  a  limited  class,  the  government 
was  essentially  aristocratic,  but  it  was  free  from  most 
of  the  evils  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy.  All  the  mem- 
bers, except  the  ex-senators,  went  back  after  a  short 
term  of  service  to  their  constituents — like  themselves 
engaged  in  industrial  pursuits — and  thus  felt  the  sense 
of  direct  accountability.  They  would  also  naturally 
feel  unwilhng,  while  in  office,  to  pass  laws  injurious  to 
the  common  good,  of  which  they  were  so  soon  to  expe- 
rience the  ill  effects. 

In  Holland,  and  in  the  northern  provinces  generally, 
the  form  of  town  government  was  somewhat  simpler. 
The  senate  was  composed  of  two,  three,  or  four  burgo- 
masters, and  a  certain  number  of  schepens,  or  sheriffs, 
generally  seven.  Together  these  officers  administered 
the  affairs  of  the  town,  but  the  schepens  sitting  alone 
formed  a  civil  and  criminal  court.     The  sovereign  was 

*  Motley,  i.  84. 


HOLLAND    AND   THE   RURAL   DISTRICTS  151 

represented  by  an  official  called  a  scJiout,  whom  he  ap- 
pointed, but  sometimes  from  three  candidates  named  by 
the  senate.  A  Great  Council  of  the  citizens,  possessing 
certain  property  qualifications,  met  annually,  and  chose 
eight  or  nine  "  Good  Men ;"  these  in  turn  elected  the  bur- 
gomasters and  the  candidates,  from  whom  the  schout, 
as  representative  of  his  master,  selected  the  schepens.* 

The  municipal  government  and  the  privileges  of  the 
towns  extended  over  a  certain  space  outside  the  Avails, 
which  was  constantly  extended  by  favor  or  purchase 
from  the  sovereign.  Beyond  these  limits  lay  the  open 
country  with  its  rural  population,  forming  the  domains 
of  the  nobles  and  abbeys,  and  governed  by  bailiffs, 
whose  office  was  analogous  to  that  of  the  city  schout. 
Here,  especially  in  the  southern  provinces,  there  was 
much  less  liberty  than  within  the  towns.  And  yet  serf- 
dom was  abolished  in  Flanders  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  condition  of  the  peasant  would,  in  one  re- 
spect at  least,  compare  favorably  with  that  of  a  person 
of  the  same  class  to-da}^.  He  was  an  hereditary  tenant, 
and  could  not  be  evicted  from  his  little  plot  of  land,  nor 
subjected  to  an  annual  or  capricious  increase  of  rent; 
neither  could  he  be  compelled  to  pay  for  the  results  of 
improvements  which  he  had  made  himself.f  Some  of 
the  village  communities  obtained  charters  from  their 
lords,  but  they  had  not  the  strength  to  oppose  force 
with  force  when  their  charters  w^ere  violated,  and  they 

*  Davies,  "  Holland,"  i.  80,  etc. 

t  Hutton's  "  Van  Arteveld,"  chap.  vi.  This  system,  worthy  of  at- 
tention from  persons  interested  in  the  history  of  Ireland,  still  prevails 
in  Groningen,  and  to  it  the  great  prosperity  of  the  farmers  of  that 
state  is  generally  attributed.  "  Holland  and  its  People,"  De  Amicis, 
p.  386.  In  England  serfdom  lingered  on  until  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
and,  perhaps,  a  little  later.     Gneist,  ii.  329. 


152        TUE    PUUITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

were  continually  subject  to  the  tyrann}^  of  their  power- 
ful neiD:hbors  in  the  towns. 

As  the  cities  grew  in  wealth,  strength,  and  impor- 
tance, they  acquired  riglits  beyond  those  of  mere  local 
self-government,  for  we  see  them  sending  deputies  to 
the  states  or  legislatures  of  the  separate  provinces ;  thus 
forming  with  the  nobles,  and  the  clergy  in  some  cases, 
the  parliamentar}^  power  of  the  nation.  When  this  right 
was  first  acquired  by  the  municipalities  does  not  seem 
to  be  established,  but  we  find  it  fully  settled  in  Flanders 
as  early  as  1286.*  It  probably  arose  from  the  custom 
of  consulting  with  them  upon  matters  relating  to  war 
or  foreign  alliances,  questions  in  which  they  were  par- 
ticularly interested,  and  as  to  which  their  support  would 
be  essential  to  the  sovereign.  Thus  the  treaty  which 
the  Count  of  Holland  made  with  Edward  I,  of  Eng- 
land in  1281  was  guaranteed  by  the  towns.  Shortly 
afterwards,  the  towns  of  Holland,  large  and  small,  are 
seen  sending  their  deputies  to  the  assembly  of  the 
states,  to  consider  questions  of  taxation  ;  but  by  th-e  fif- 
teenth century  this  privilege  was  substantially,  and  by 
the  next  century  wholly,  confined  to  the  six  principal 
cities  of  Dordrecht,  Harlem,  Delft,  Leyden,  Amsterdam, 
and  Gouda.f 

As  it  would  be  useless  to  discuss  the  organization  of 
all  the  provincial  states,  we  may  confine  our  view  to 
that  of  Holland,  which  is  the  most  important  for  our 
purposes.  Here  the  clergy  had  no  representation.  The 
six  towns  sent  deputies  elected  by  their  senates,  each 
town,  however,  whatever  its  population,  having  but  one 


*  Motley,  i.  37.     Nine  years  before  an  Englisli  Parliament. 
f  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  83 ;  Motley,  i.  37.    In  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury it  was  extended  to  twelve  other  towns. 


THE   LEGISLATURE   OR    STATES   OF   HOLLAND  153 

vote.  The  nobles  also  sent  deputies,  but  they  had  only- 
one  vote  conjointly.  Thus  the  towns  stood  against  the 
nobles  as  six  to  one,  forming  a  great  contrast  to  the 
early  English  parliaments.  No  measure  could  be  adopt- 
ed, nor  any  tax  imposed,  without  the  consent  of  each  of 
the  seven  bodies  represented ;  and  if  any  new  question 
arose  as  to  which  they  were  uninstructed,  the  deputies 
were  obliged  to  postpone  decision  until  after  consulta- 
tion with  their  principals.  In  times  of  peace  no  partic- 
ular evil  resulted  from  this  extreme  states-rights  doc- 
trine, but  in  times  of  war  it  became  a  fertile  source  of 
weakness,  irresolution,  and  delay.  The  powers  exer- 
cised by  the  states  were  of  course  a  shifting  quantity, 
expanding  under  weak  rulers,  and  shrinking  under  pow- 
erful and  arbitrary  ones.  The  most  essential,  however, 
that  of  levying  taxes,  no  sovereign  of  Holland  ever  vent- 
ured to  dispute  before  the  time  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain.* 
It  appears  to  have  been  competent  for  any  town  to  call 
an  assembly,  but  the  more  common  practice  was  to  peti- 
tion the  count  or  his  council  to  do  so,  and  he  usually 
convoked  them  at  The  Hague,  or  at  some  other  place  in 
which  he  w^as  residing. 

Although  the  nobles  had  but  one  vote  in  the  assem- 
bly, there  was  another  body  in  which  they  had  great 
power.  This  was  the  council  of  state,  or  supreme  court, 
formed  of  the  chief  members  of  the  nobility,  selected  by 
the  counts.  The  council  of  state  assisted  the  count  in 
the  administration  of  public  affairs,  guaranteed  all  trea- 
ties with  foreign  powers,  and  in  its  judicial  capacity  took 
cognizance  of  capital  offences,  both  in  the  towns,  unless 
otherwise  provided  by  their  charters,  and  in  the  open 
country.     To  this  court,  usually  presided  over  by  the 


*  Davies's  "  Holland/'  i. 


154        THE    PURITAN    IN    UOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

count  in  jDerson,  lay  an  appeal  in  civil  causes  from  all 
the  inferior  courts  of  the  province." 

Such,  in  outline,  was  the  general  form  of  government 
in  the  countship  of  Holland,  and  that  of  the  other  states 
was  much  the  same  in  character,  although,  as  I  shall 
show  in  another  place,  the  system  in  some  of  the  states 
still  farther  north  was  much  more  democratic.  How 
essentially  it  differed  from  that  in  England,  and  how  it 
affected  the  colonists  of  America,  we  shall  see  hereafter. 
The  seventeen  provinces  were,  as  already  stated,  origi- 
nally separate  and  distinct  nationalities,  lordships,  and 
fiefs ;  but  in  the  course  of  time,  beginning  in  1384,  by 
marriage,  purchase,  or  conquest,  all  except  three  gravi- 
tated to  the  House  of  Burgundy.f  Still,  each  state  al- 
ways retained  its  separate  existence,  with  its  individual 
rights  and  privileges,  its  own  assembly  and  council  of 
state,  and  its  own  stadtliolder,  who,  appointed  by  the 
sovereign,  acted  as  his  representative. 

In  1477,  Charles  the  Bold,  whose  fiery  passions,  chiv- 
alric  daring,  and  wild  ambition  had  for  ten  years  be- 
wildered Europe,  fell  in  battle  by  an  unknown  hand, 
leaving  but  one  child,  a  daughter,  Mary,  twenty  years 
of  age.  Louis  XL  was  on  the  throne  of  France,  and  at 
once  seized  the  opportunity  to  take  possession  of  the 
Duchy  of  Burgundy,  as  a  lapsed  fief,  and  to  lay  claim  to 
all  the  ^Netherlands.  The  Duchess  Mary  was  at  Ghent, 
and,  under  the  advice  of  her  guardians,  called  a  grand 
congress  of  all  the  fourteen  provinces  then  belonging  to 
the  House  of  Burgundy,  to  consider  ways  and  means  to 
resist  the  French  aggressions.  This  was  an  important 
event,  for  it  was  the  first  meeting  of  tlie  States-General, 


*  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  83. 

t  Kirk's  "  Charles  the  Bold,"  i.  56. 


THE  STATES-GENERAL  AND    THE   CHAETEK    OP   HOLLAND      155 

or  General  Congress  of  the  Netherlands,  which  played 
so  great  a  part  in  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Low 
Countries. 

It  was  also  important  in  another  aspect.  Under  the 
rule  of  Charles  the  Bold,  as  well  as  under  that  of  his 
father,  Philip  the  Good,  many  inroads  had  been  made 
on  the  ancient  prescriptive  rights  of  the  various  states. 
The  time  had  now  come  to  retrieve  the  past  and  secure 
the  future,  and  the  keen-witted  deputies  summoned  to 
the  general  assembly  were  not  slow  to  improve  their 
opportunity.  The  States  -  General  were  called  together 
to  grant  subsidies  for  the  war  with  France.  The  depu- 
ties expressed  a  willingness  to  render  every  service  in 
their  power,  but  demanded  that  their  grievances  should 
be  first  redressed.  The  duchess  reluctantly  gave  way, 
and  the  result  was  a  formal  charter  for  the  separate 
provinces,  written,  sealed,  and  sanctioned  by  the  oath  of 
the  sovereign  and  her  guardians.*  The  charter  granted 
to  Holland,  called  the  "  Groot  Privilegie,"  or  "  Great 
Privilege,"  is  worthy  of  particular  attention. 

Its  chief  provisions  were  the  following :  The  duchess 
should  not  marry  without  the  consent  of  the  nobles  and 
the  states ;  she  should  bestow  the  offices  of  the  country 
on  natives  only,  no  person  being  allowed  to  hold  two  at 
the  same  time,  and  none  to  be  let  out  to  farm.  The 
Council  of  Holland  was  thenceforth  to  consist  of  eight 
members  besides  the  stadtholder — six  Hollanders  and 
two  Zeelanders — and  no  cause  of  which  the  municipal 
courts  had  jurisdiction  was  to  be  brought  before  it  ex- 


*  Motley,  in  various  places,  speaks  of  the  old  chartered  rights  of 
the  provinces.  As  matter  of  fact,  few,  if  any  of  them,  had  charters 
before  this  time.  .-  Their  rights,  unlike  those  of  the  cities,  rested  in 
prescription. 


156       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

cept  by  way  of  appeal.  The  right  de  non  evocando,  oi 
exemption  from  prosecution  out  of  their  province,  was 
to  be  preserved  to  all  the  inhabitants  inviolate.  The 
towns  might  hold  assemblies  with  each  other  or  with 
the  states,  where  and  as  often  as  they  judged  necessary. 
No  new  tolls  or  other  burdens  should  be  enforced  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  states,  and  the  freedom  of  trade 
and  commerce  should  be  maintained.*  IsTeither  the 
duchess  nor  her  successors  should  declare  Avar,  offensive 
or  defensive,  without  the  consent  of  the  states ;  and  in 
case  they  did  so,  no  one  should  be  bound  to  serve.  No 
commands  of  the  sovereign  should  prevail  against  the 
privileges  of  the  towns.  The  Dutch  language  should  be 
used  in  all  decrees  and  letters-patent.  No  coin  should 
be  struck,  nor  any  alteration  made  in  the  standard  of 


*  How  carefully  find  wisely  the  Netherlanders  maintained  the  free- 
dom of  trade  can  be  seen  from  an  incident  wliich  occurred  so  far  back 
as  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  of  England.  That  monarch,  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  Robert,  Earl  of  Flanders,  states  that  he  has  learned  of  an 
active  intercourse  carried  on  between  the  Scotch  and  the  Flemings ; 
and  as  the  Scotch  had  taken  part  with  Rol)ert  Bruce,  who  was  in 
rebellion  against  him  and  excommunicated  by  the  pope,  he  begged 
that  the  earl  would  put  a  stop  to  this  intercourse,  and  exclude  the 
Scotch  from  his  dominions.  The  earl's  answer  was  full  of  expres- 
sions of  respect  for  the  English  king,  whom  he  desired  to  please, 
but  he  said  frankly,  as  to  the  main  question  :  "We  must  not  conceal 
it  from  your  majesty  that  our  country  of  Flanders  is  open  to  all 
the  world,  where  every  person  finds  a  free  admission.  Nor  can  we 
take  away  this  privilege  from  persons  concerned  in  commerce  with- 
out bringing  ruin  and  destruction  upon  our  country.  If  the  Scotch 
go  to  our  ports,  and  our  subjects  go  to  theirs,  it  is  neither  the  inten- 
tion of  ourselves  nor  our  subjects  to  encourage  them  in  their  error, 
but  only  to  carry  on  our  traffic,  without  taking  any  part  with  them." 
— Rymer's  "Fcedcra,"  iii.  771.  This  was  always  the  policy  of  the 
Netherland  States  and  the  Dutch  Republic. 


THE  MAGNA  CHAETA  OF  HOLLAND  AND  THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC   157 

money,  without  the  approbation  of  the  states.  The  towns 
should  not  be  forced  to  contribute  to  any  petition  for 
money,  unless  they  had  first  consented  to  it,  and  the 
petition  should  be  presented  to  the  states  by  the  sover- 
eign in  person.* 

This  was  a  pretty  broad  instrument  for  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  freedom  was  being  throttled  all  over  the 
rest  of  Europe.  The  duchess,  to  be  sure,  afterwards  de- 
clared it  invalid,  as  obtained  from  her  when  a  minor, 
and  her  successors  repudiated  it  and  disregarded  many 
of  its  obligations,  treating  it  as  the  kings  of  England 
had  treated  Magna  Charta.  But  to  the  people  it  stood 
as  a  memento  of  the  past  and  a  prophecy  of  the  future. 
They  claimed  that  its  provisions  Avere  not  novel,  but 
that  it  only  summed  up  the  privileges  which  they  pos- 
sessed before  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  attempted  to  in- 
troduce the  despotic  system  which  prevailed  in  France.f 

The  Lady  Mary  marries  the  son  of  the  Emperor  of 
Germany,  and  thus  the  ISTetherlands  pass  to  the  House 
of  Austria,  and  so  down  to  Charles  Y.,  who  acquires  the 
three  remaining  provinces,  including  democratic  Fries- 
land.:}:  In  1548,  seven  years  before  the  abdication  of 
his  father,  Philip  II.  visited  the  country  to  receive  the 
homage  of  his  future  subjects,  and  to  exchange  oaths  of 
mutual  fidelity.  As  he  passed  from  state  to  state  the 
people  swore  fealty  to  their  coming  sovereign,  and  he  in 
return  swore  to  respect  their  various  rights  and  privi- 
leges.    In  Holland  he  took  an  oath  "  well  and  truly  to 


*  D.avies,  i.  284,  etc. 

t  Grotius,  "  De  Antiq.  Reip.  Bat."  cap.  v. 

I  Grattan.  Froissart,  who  wrote  about  1380,  said  tliat  the  Frisians 
were  a  very  unreasonable  race  for  not  recognizing  the  authority  of 
the  great  lords. 


158        THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

maintain  all  the  privileges  and  freedom  of  the  nobles, 
cities,  communities,  subjects — lay  and  clerical— of  the 
province  of  Holland  and  West  Friesland,  to  them  grant- 
ed by  my  ancestors,  counts  and  countesses  of  Holland ; 
and,  moreover, their  customs,  traditions,  usages,  and  rights 
which  they  now  have  and  use."  *  His  father  and  grand- 
father had  sworn  to  maintain  only  the  limited  privi- 
leges admitted  by  the  usurping  House  of  Burgundy,  but 
he  bound  himself  to  maintain  all  ever  granted  by  any 
of  his  predecessors.  They,  however,  had  been  rather 
better  than  their  promises — for,  in  the  main,  they  had 
respected  all  the  privileges  of  the  states  and  cities — but 
he  proved  much  worse  than  his.  The  right  of  self-tax- 
ation he,  for  the  first  time,  attempted  to  set  aside.  The 
result  was  revolution :  the  people  demanded  all  their 
privileges,  and  the  Magna  Charta  of  Holland  became  the 
foundation  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 

Passing  now  from  the  question  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment, and  reserving  for  another  place  a  discussion  of 
some  features  in  the  legal  system  of  the  country,  let  us 
next  look  at  the  subject  of  education  in  the  Netherlands. 
Here  we  shall  see  why  the  Reformation  made  such  rapid 
advances  among  this  people ;  and  when  we  add  a  view 
of  the  state  of  public  and  private  morals,  we  shall  be 
able  to  understand  the  character  of  the  Dutch  Puritan, 
and  why  it  was  that  little  Holland  became  for  so  many 
years  the  bulwark  of  Protestantism  as  well  as  the  ref- 
uge of  religious  and  civil  liberty  in  Europe. 

When  learning  began  to  revive  after  the  long  sleep 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  Italy  experienced  the  first  impulse. 
'Next  came  Germany  and  the  contiguous  provinces  of 
the  Low  Countries.     The  force  of  the   movement  in 

*  Motley,  i.  135. 


SCHOOLS  m  THE  NETHERLANDS  159 

these  regions  is  shown  by  an  event  of  great  importance, 
not  always  noticed  by  historians.  In  1400,  there  was 
estabhshecl  at  Deventer,  in  tlie  northeastern  province  of 
the  ISTetherlancls,  an  association  or  brotlierhood,  usually 
called  Brethren  of  the  Life  in  Common.  In  their  strict 
lives,  partial  community  of  goods,  industry  in  manual 
labor,  fervent  devotion,  and  tendency  to  mysticism,  they 
bore  some  resemblance  to  the  modern  Moravians.  But 
they  were  strikingly  distinguished  from  the  members  of 
this  sect  by  their  earnest  cultivation  of  knowledge,  which 
was  encouraged  among  themselves  and  promoted  among 
others  by  schools,  both  for  primary  and  advanced  edu- 
cation. In  14:30  the  Brethren  had  established  forty-five 
branches,  and  by  1460  more  than  thrice  that  number. 
They  were  scattered  through  different  parts  of  Germany 
and  the  Low  Countries,  each  with  its  school  subordinate 
to  the  head  college  at  Deventer  * 

It  was  in  these  schools,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  that  a  few  Germans  and  IN^etherlanders  were, 
as  Hallam  says,  roused  to  acquire  that  extensive  knowl- 
edge of  the  ancient  languages  which  Italy  as  yet  exclu- 
sively possessed.  Their  names  should  never  be  omitted 
in  any  remembrance  of  the  revival  of  letters ;  for  great 
was  their  influence  upon  subsequent  times.  Chief  among 
these  men  were  "Wessels,  of  Groningen,  "one  of  those 
who  contributed  most  steadily  to  the  purification  of 


*  "Their  schools  were,"  saysEickhorn,  "the first  genuine  nurseries 
of  literature  in  Germany,  so  far  as  it  depended  on  the  knowledge  of 
languages;  and  in  them  was  first  taught  the  Latin,  and,  in  process 
of  time,  the  Greek  and  Eastern  tongues."  Groningen  had  also  a 
school  (St.  Edward's)  of  considerable  merit,  while  at  ZwoU,  not  far 
distant,  was  another,  over  which  Thomas  a  Kempis  is  said  to  have 
presided.  Hallam's  "  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  85 ; 
Baudry's  "European  Library,"  Paris,  1839. 


160       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

religion ;"  Hegius,  of  Deventer,  under  whom  Erasmus 
obtained  his  early  education,  and  who  probably  was  the 
first  man  to  print  Greek  north  of  the  Alps ;  Dringeberg, 
who  founded  a  good  school  in  Alsace ;  and  Longius,  who 
presided  over  one  at  Miinster.* 

Thanks  to  the  iniluence  of  these  pioneers  in  learning, 
education  had  made  great  progress  among  the  Nether- 
landers  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They 
could  not,  to  be  sure,  as  yet  rival  the  science  and  culture 
of  Italy,  but  even  in  some  of  the  upper  branches  they 
were  taking  high  rank.  Alread}?-  Erasmus,  of  Rotterdam, 
the  greatest  scholar  of  the  age,  had  filled  all  Europe  with 
his  fame.  Vesalius,  of  Brussels,  physician  to  Charles  Y. 
and  Philip  II.,  was  dissecting  the  human  body  and  pro- 
ducing the  first  comprehensive  and  systematic  view  of 
anatomy.f  Sainte  Aldegonde  was  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  men  of  the  age.  He  spoke  and  wrote 
Latin,  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  German,  and  Flemish. 
He  composed  poignant  Greek  epigrams,  translated  the 
Psalms  from  Hebrew  into  Flemish  verse  for  the  use  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  was  a  profound  lawyer  and  theo- 
logian, an  eloquent  orator,  a  skilful  diplomatist,  and  a 
writer  of  European  celebrit3^:|:  William  of  Orange  him- 
self was  no  mean  scholar.  He  also  spoke  and  wrote 
with  facility  Latin,  French,  German,  Flemish,  and  Span- 
ish.    Apart  from  these,  there  was  a  host  of  other  men 


*  Hallam,  i.  142. 

t  "Vesalius,  a  native  of  Brussels,  has  been  termed  the  founder  of 
human  anatomy,  and  his  great  work, '  De  Humani  Corporis  Fabrica,' 
is  even  yet  a  splendid  monument  of  art  as  well  as  science.  It  is  said, 
although  probably  incorrectly,  that  the  figures  were  designed  by 
Titian."  — WhewelPs  "Hist,  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  iii.  394; 
Ilallam,  i.  .364. 

X  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  i.  146. 


PHENOMENAL   EDUCATION   OF   THE  MASSES  161 

of  varied  accomplishments,  many  of  them  of  deep  and 
extensive  learning. 

Still,  the  country  was  not,  at  this  time,  distinguished 
for  the  great  scholarship  which,  half  a  century  later,  was 
to  make  the  new  republic  the  home  of  philosophy  and 
science,  as  well  as  of  the  arts.  The  foundations  of  this 
edifice,  however,  were  already  laid  in  the  almost  univer- 
sal education  of  the  people.  About  a  century  before 
this  period  printing  from  movable  type  had  been  invent- 
ed. That  the  Hollanders  were  the  inventors  may  well 
be  doubted ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  no  other  nation 
ever  put  the  invention  to  better  use.  They  began  at  the 
bottom,  and,  placing  the  spelling-book  and  reader  in  the 
hands  of  every  child,  at  a  time  when  the  mass  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation  was  wholly  illiterate,"^  gave  to  all  classes  an 
elementary  education.  The  extent  to  which  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  cities  had  profited  by  these  advantages, 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain,  may  well 
seem  phenomenal  even  at  the  present  day.  Motley, 
writing  of  Antwerp  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, says  "it  was  difiicult  to  find  a  child  of  sufficient  age 
who  could  not  write  and  speak  at  least  two  languages."  f 
But  this  phenomenal  education  was  not  confined  to  the 
cities.  Guicciardini,  in  describing  the  people  of  Holland 
at  this  time,  tells  us  that  many  of  the  nobles  living  a 
retired  life  devoted  themselves  wholly  to  literature,  and 
even  the  peasants  were  able  to  read  and  write  well.:]: 

In  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  I*^etherlands  were  to 
be  found  the  so-called  Guilds  of  Ehetoric.  These  were 
associations  of  mechanics  and  artisans,  who  amused  them- 
selves with  concerts,  dramatic  exhibitions,  and  the  rep- 


*  Natlian  Drake,  "  Shakespeare  and  his  Times,"  p.  210,  etc. 
t  Motley,  i.  84.  J  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  487. 

I.— 11 


163       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

resentation  of  allegories,  where  some  moral  truth  was 
set  forth  decked  out  in  all  the  splendor  of  costume  that 
art  could  devise  and  wealth  supply.  These  performances 
constituted  the  chief  amusement  of  the  people,  and  they 
were  always  more  or  less  instructive.  Certainly  their 
existence  throws  much  light  upon  the  general  intelli- 
gence. 

It  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if,  in  such  a  soil, 
the  Keformation  had  not  taken  deep  and  early  root.  In 
fact,  heresy  was  a  very  old  story  in  the  ITetherlands. 
From  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  all  the  sects 
which  had  arisen  to  combat  or  correct  the  abuses  of 
Eome  had  flourished  there.  Nowhere  was  their  per- 
secution more  relentless,  and  nowhere  was  it  less  suc- 
cessful. With  the  invention  of  printing,  the  old  forces 
working  against  the  Church  took  on  a  new  life.  The 
cheapening  of  books  led  to  the  rapid  multiplication  of 
the  Scriptures,  and,  what  was  of  more  importance,  their 
publication  in  the  common  tongue.  Prior  to  this  time 
the  idea  had  prevailed  that  the  Bible  was  only  for  the 
learned,  and  so  was  to  be  kept  in  a  language  which  none 
others  could  understand.  Throwing  it  open  to  the  peo- 
ple meant  a  religious  revolution. 

In  this,  the  greatest  of  all  steps  leading  to  the  Refor- 
mation, Holland  took  a  leading  part  by  printing  at  Delft, 
in  1477,  a  Dutch  version  translated  from  the  Yulgate. 
Before  the  appearance  of  Luther's  translation  into  Ger- 
man, several  editions  of  this  work  were  issued  from  the 
presses  of  Antwerp  and  Amsterdam.  In  1516,  Erasmus 
made  an  original  translation  of  the  ISTew  Testament  into 
Latin,  and  thus  paved  the  way  for  the  Eeformation  by 
the  novel  light  which  he  threw  upon  the  Scriptures.  In 
a  preface  to  this  great  work,  Erasmus  expressed  the  hope 
that  the  translation  would  be  continued  in  all  languages. 


TRANSLATIONS   OF    THE   BIBLE  163 

SO  that  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  might  be  read  in  every 
land  and  by  every  person.  Six  years  after  reading  these 
words,  Luther  gave  to  the  world  his  German  version  of 
the  Kew  Testament.  Well  was  it  said  that  Erasmus 
laid  the  egg  which  Luther  hatched.  Again,  four  years 
later,  Tyndale,  also  incited  by  the  work  of  Erasmus,  made 
his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Eng-lish.* 
This  was  published  at  Antwerp  in  1526. 
.  In  1535  there  appeared  the  first  complete  English  Bible 
in  print.  This  was  the  work  of  Miles  Coverdale,  who  was 
employed  to  make  the  translation  by  Jacob  van  Mete- 
ren,  of  Antwerp,  the  father  of  Emanuel,  the  historian  of 
the  I^etherlands.  The  translation,  which  was  from  the 
"Douche  and  Latin,"  was  made,  and  the  printing  was 
done,  at  Antwerp,  the  sheets  being  sent  across  the  Chan- 
nel by  Meteren,  "  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  in  England."  f  It  was  not  until  1538  that  any 
translation  of  the  Bible  was  printed  in  England.  Prior 
to  that  date  more  than  fifteen  editions  of  the  entire  work, 
and  thirty-four  editions  of  the  N'ew  Testament  alone,  had 
been  printed  in  the  ISTetherlands  in  Dutch  and  Flemish. 
In  no  other  country  were  so  many  copies  of  the  Script- 
ures published  at  that  early  day;  and  not  even  in  Ger- 
many, the  home  of  the  Eeformation,  were  they  so  gen- 
erally read.:{: 

*  Seebolim's  "  Protestant  Revolution,"  pp.  99-185. 

t  The  Coverdale  Bible  was,  until  recently,  supposed  to  have  been 
translated  in  England.  Its  history  and  the  connection  of  Meteren 
with  it  are  given  in  the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  9th  ed.,  arti- 
cle "  English  Bible."     The  '•  Douche  "  was  probably  German. 

I  "  There  can  be  no  sort  of  comparison  between  the  numbers  of 
these  editions,  and  consequently  the  eagerness  of  the  people  of  the 
Low  Co^mtries  for  Biblical  knowledge,  and  anything  that  could  be 
found  in  the  Protestant  states  of  the  empire."— Hallam's  "  Literature 
of  Europe,"  i.  300. 


164       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

This  exceptional  dissemination  of  tlie  Scriptures  ex- 
plains the  religious  history  of  the  Netherlands.  With 
the  Bible  in  a  known  tongue,  and  through  universal  ed- 
ucation the  property  of  the  masses,  the  Keformation 
here  vras  inevitable.  The  same  causes  which  brought  it 
about  also  gave  it  a  peculiar  character — a  character  com- 
mon to  most  movements  among  this  people  of  republics. 
It  began  at  the  bottom,  and  worked  its  way  up  very 
slowly.  In  other  countries  converts  to  the  new  belief 
were  made  among  the  royal  classes.  In  such  cases,  of 
course,  their  subjects  became  Protestants.  In  fact,  the 
doctrine  was  early  laid  down,  and  was  finally  settled  at 
the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  which,  in  1555,  gave  a  temporary 
religious  peace  to  Germany,  that  the  people  were  always 
to  follow  the  faith  of  their  ruler ;  in  other  Avords,  the 
prince  was  to  choose  a  religion  for  his  subjects."^-"  This 
was  the  theory  of  the  age.  "Cujus  regio,  ejus  religio" 
was  the  motto.  The  enforcement  of  this  political  doc- 
trine explains  the  extirpation  of  heresy  in  Italy  and 
Spain,  and  finally  in  France.  Save  in  one  instance, 
Protestantism  continued  as  a  power  only  in  the  coun- 
tries where  the  sovereigns  or  great  nobles  became  its 
early  converts.  The  ^Netherlands  form  the  one  excep- 
tion to  the  rule,  and  because  they  do  so  their  religious 
history  is  of  absorbing  interest.  It  may  almost  be  said, 
in  truth,  that  in  every  other  country  of  Europe  the  Ref- 
ormation was  a  political  movement,  while  here  it  was 
a  religious  one.i" 

In  151Y,  Luther  began  his  contest  with  Eome  by  the 
exhibition  of  his  ninety-five  theses  against  indulgences. 


*  Fisher,  "Outlines  of  History,"  p.  410. 

■•■  It  Avas  not  until  1573,  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  opening  of 
the  Reformation,  that  William  of  Orange  became  a  Protestant. 


THE   REFOEMATION   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS  165 

Four  years  later,  Charles  Y.,  claiming  the  right  to  regu- 
late the  religion  of  his  subjects  in  the  ISTetherlancls,  issued 
an  edict  which  shows  that  heresy  was  gaining  ground. 
"  As  it  appears,"  says  he,  "  that  the  aforesaid  Martin  is 
not  a  man,  but  a  devil  under  the  form  of  a  man,  and 
clothed  in  the  dress  of  a  priest,  the  better  to  bring  the 
human  race  to  hell  and  damnation,  therefore  all  his  dis- 
ciples and  converts  are  to  be  punished  with  death  and 
forfeiture  of  all  their  goods."  The  next  year  the  pope, 
at  the  request  of  the  emperor,  sent  him  an  inquisitor- 
general,  and  the  Inquisition  was  formally  established  in 
the  JSTetherlands. 

Work  began  at  once.  In  1523,  two  monks  were  burned 
at  Brussels  for  heresy,  and  it  was  noticed  that  the  city 
now  began  strenuously  to  favor  Lutheranism."-^  Later 
on,  another  edict  forbade  all  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
all  private  assemblies  for  devotion,  and  all  religious  dis- 
cussions under  penalty  of  death.  The  flames  and  the 
scaffold  were  called  on  to  enforce  these  edicts,  and  yet, 
strangely  enough  as  it  then  appeared,  the  schism  spread. 
In  1533,  Mary,  the  regent,  wrote  to  her  brother  that "  in 
her  opinion  all  heretics,  whether  repentant  or  not,  should 
be  prosecuted  with  such  severity  as  that  error  might  be 
at  once  extinguished,  care  being  only  taken  that  the 
provinces  were  not  entirely  depopulated."  In  1535,  an 
imperial  edict  issued  at  Brussels  condemned  all  heretics 
to  death;  repentant  males  to  be  executed  with  the 
sword,  repentant  females  to  be  buried  alive ;  the  obsti- 
nate of  both  sexes  to  be  burned.  Finally,  in  1550,  a 
new  edict  re-enacted  all  former  provisions,  and,  adding 
novel  offences,  made  even  the  entertaining  of  heretical 
opinions  or  the  concealment  of  heretics  punishable  with. 

*  Motley,  i.  77. 


16G       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

death,  while  directing  all  judicial  officers  to  render  as- 
sistance to  the  Inquisition,  any  privileges  or  charters  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.* 

How  rigorously  these  laws  were  enforced  is  shown  b}'" 
the  appalling  records  of  the  executioners.  History  calls 
Mary  of  England  "  Bloody  Mary,"  because  in  her  reign 
two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  persons  suffered  death  for 
their  religion.f  These,  with  a  few  victims  put  to  death 
by  her  father,  and  some  isolated  cases  in  preceding 
reigns,  make  up  the  sum  of  all  the  religious  martyrs  of 
England  until  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  in  1558. 
'Now  let  us  look  across  the  Channel.  Grotius,  who  was 
well  informed  upon  such  subjects,  says  that  a  hundred 
thousand  heretics  were  put  to  death  in  the  IsTetherlands 
under  the  edicts  of  Charles  Y.j;.  According  to  Motley, 
the  number  has  never  been  placed  at  a  lower  mark  than 
fifty  thousand. §  If  even  this  latter  computation  is  cor- 
rect, the  victims  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  Netherlands, 
before  the  days  of  Philip  II.,  probably  exceeded  in  num- 
ber all  those  who  have  suffered  death  under  its  judg- 
ments in  all  the  other  countries  of  Europe  combined, 
from  the  days  of  the  Reformation  until  the  present 
time.  I  

*  Motley,  i.  77,  80,  261,  331. 

t  Neal's  "  History  of  the  PLiritans,"  i.  64. 

I  "Annals,"  lib.  i.  17  (Amsterdam,  1658). 

§  Motley,  i.  114;  Davies's  "Holland,"  i.  498.  Prescott,  lioM'ever, 
questions  these  figures,  "  Philip  H."  i.  380.  It  may  be  noted  that 
other  modern  writers  agree  with  Prescott. 

II  Prior  to  the  appointment  of  Torquemada,  in  1483,  as  Inquisitor- 
general  of  Spain,  the  victims  there  had  been  very  few.  From  1483 
to  1808,  the  whole  number  who  suffered  death  in  Spain  is  placed  at 
about  32,000  by  Llorente,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Madrid  Inqui- 
sition from  1789  to  1791,  and  claimed  to  have  access  to  the  records. 
See  his  "  Critical  History  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition."    Catholic  writ- 


THE   LUTHERANS,  THE    CALVINISTS,   AND   THE   ANABAPTISTS     167 
\ 

Such  was  the  rehgious  record  of  this  people  when,  in 
1555,  the  dominion  over  the  seventeen  provinces  passed 
to  Phihp  II.  of  Spain.  Already  some  fifty  thousand 
men  and  Avomen  had  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Eeformation,  and  yet  converts  were  on  the 
increase.  In  the  early  days,  under  the  influence  of 
Germany,  the  theological  sj'stem  of  Luther  was  in  the 
ascendant ;  but  later  on  the  Huguenots  from  France 
brought  in  the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  who  went  to  Geneva 
in  1536,  and  Calvinism  became  the  faith  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  reformers.  This  it  was  that  bound  them  so 
closely  to  the  Puritans  of  England,  who  all  accepted 
substantially  the  same  system  of  Calvinistic  theology. 
Still,  the  Lutherans  were  not  insignificant  in  numbers, 
and,  being  found  mostly  among  the  upper  classes,  their 
influence  was  considerable.  A  third  sect,  larger  than 
the  Lutherans,  but  without  political  or  social  influence, 
was  the  Anabaptists,  or  Mennonites,  who  were  found 
mainly  among  the  poor  of  Holland.*  These  people,  of 
whom  we  shall  see  much  more  hereafter,  were  in  some 
respects  the  most  interesting  and  picturesque  of  all,  ex- 
erting the  greatest  influence  on  the  independent  sects  of 
England  and  America. 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  and  with  it  our  general 
view  of  the  progress  and  condition  of  the  ^Netherlands 


ers  assert  that  he  has  placed  the  figures  too  high.  Those  who  were 
put  to  death  in  other  countries  outside  of  Spain  were  too  few  to 
run  the  aggregate  up  to  50.000.  It  may  not  be  without  interest  to 
notice  here  that  tlie  total  number  of  the  victims  of  the  St.  Barthol- 
omew Massacre  in  France,  those  in  Paris  and  elsewhere,  is  estimated 
at  from  20,000  to  30,000.  Baird's  "  Else  of  the  Huguenots  in  France," 
ii.  530. 

*  Prescott's  "  Philip  II.,"  ii.  23. 


168       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND^AJIEEICA 

at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  with  Spain,  we  may  well 
glance  at  the  state  of  their  private  and  public  morals. 
We  have  seen  the  intellectual  advance,  the  general  edu- 
cation, and  the  wide  dissemination  of  the  Bible,  which 
prepared  this  people  to  receive  religious  teachings.    All 
this,  however,  would  have  been  of  little  avail  as  a  prep- 
aration for  the  permanent  reception  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Eeformation,  had  there  not  been  something  beyond 
a  mere  Intel] ectual  cultivation,  or  even  a  religious  fervor. 
We  must  remember — and  no  one  can  understand  the 
history  of  Europe  in  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  or  even  the 
seventeenth  century  who  loses  sight  of  the  fact — that  in 
many  countries,  and  with  many  persons,  there  was  little 
connection  between  morality  and  religion,  and  still  less 
between  either  of  these  subjects  and  theological  dogmas. 
To  a  large  class  religion  was  a  mere  affair  of  the  mind,  a 
question  of  intellectual  belief,  having  no  beneficial  influ- 
ence upon  the  outer  life.    Men  like  Benvenuto  Cellini  lie, 
steal,  and  murder,  but  are  devout  Catholics;  not  hyp- 
ocritical, but  honestly  believing  that  they  are  w^atched 
over  by  the  angelic  hosts  and  visited  by  spirits  from 
heaven.*     Philip  II.  commits  almost  every  form  of  sin, 
violates  every  rule  of  morals,  and  yet  dies  in  the  odor  of 
sanctity,  suffering  the  most  excruciating  agonies  with  all 
the  fortitude  of  the  early  martyrs.     He  seems  never  to 
have  doubted  the  fact  of  his  direct  translation  to  the 
abodes  of  bliss,  since  they  were  reserved  for  those  who 
trusted  in  Mother  Church.     Perhaps  the  most  remarka- 
ble illustration  of  all  is  found  in  the  life  and  writiuffs  of 


*  See  his  Autobiography,  which  is  as  fascinating  as  any  romance 
and  as  instructive  as  any  treatise  on  psycliology.  It  gives  tlie  por- 
trait of  a  real  man,  an  Italian  of  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. 


RELIGION  AND   MORALITY   NOT  ALWAYS   CONNECTED         169 

Margaret  of  Angouleme,  sister  of  Francis  I.,  and  Queen 
of  JSTavarre.  Here  was  a  woman  of  a  deeply  religious 
nature,  mystical — even  inclined,  it  was  thought,  to  Prot- 
estantism— herself  of  a  pure  life,  who  writes  a  series  of 
stories,  not  only  grossly  impure,  but  showing  an  entire 
absence  of  the  moral  sense.  Honor,  chivalry,  and  relig- 
ion all  bloom  in  the  "  Heptameron,"  but  morality  of 
any  kind  has  no  place.* 

JSTor  was  this  severance  of  morality  from  religion  con- 
fined to  those  who  belonged  to  the  Church  of  Eome. 
Among  many  of  the  Protestant  sects  there  was  to  be 
found  wild  religious  enthusiasm  mingled  with  a  disre- 
gard of  all  the  obligations  of  a  moral  code.  Cromwell, 
when  in  power,  leads  an  unchaste  life,  keeps  his  mis- 
tresses, and  is  said  to  have  had  several  illegitimate  chil- 
dren ;  but  he  is  always  devout,  and  dies  in  the  faith,  as- 
sured of  his  salvation ;  not  because  he  repents,  but  from 
an  intellectual  belief  that,  having  once  been  one  of  the 
elect,  he  must  be  saved. f  The  men  who  built  up  the 
English  Church,  and  those  who  afterwards  founded  the 
Commonwealth,  were  earnest  in  their  theological  convic- 
tions, and  it  shows  little  knowedge  of  human  nature  to 
think  of  them  as  hypocrites.  Many  of  them  were  au- 
stere of  life  and  pure  of  morals,  but  many  others,  because 
they  believed  in  certain  theological  dogmas,  thought 
themselves  absolved  from  ordinary  moral  obligations. 
In  all  this  they  w^ere  but  exhibiting  a  phase  of  human 
nature  common  to  all  men  at  a  peculiar  stage  of  their 
development. 


*  See  "  Margaret  of  Angouleme,  Queen  of  Navarre,"  by  Robinson, 
"  Famous  Women  Series ;"  also  Baird's  "  Rise  of  the  Huguenots," 
i.  119,  etc. 

t  Guizot's  "  Life  of  Cromwell." 


170       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

When  now  Ave  turn  to  the  Protestant  states  of  the 
Netherlands,  we  find  much  less  of  this  separation.  There 
morality  and  religion  commonly  went  hand  in  hand.  It 
was  because  the  people  were  intelligent  and  moral,  be- 
fore they  felt  the  influence  of  the  religious  revival,  that 
the  Reformation  made  such  permanent  progress  in  their 
midst.  Protestantism  is  not  the  religion  for  a  nation  of 
free  livers.  Individuals  may  be  affected,  whole  commu- 
nities may  be  swept  over  with  a  wave  of  enthusiasm, 
but  a  people  cannot  permanently  stand  face  to  face  with 
their  Creator — and  that  was  the  idea  of  the  Keformation 
until  theology  devised  its  iron  bands  to  cramp  the  souls 
of  men — unless  beneath  a  religious  zeal  there  is  a  foun- 
dation of  sound  public  and  private  morals.  This  was 
shown  in  the  experience  of  the  Netherlands.  At  the 
outset  the  southern  provinces,  more  vivacious  and  with 
more  active  intellects,  furnished  the  most  zealous  con- 
verts to  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  but  they 
never  formed  a  majority  of  the  population,  and  much 
of  the  early  fervor  was  soon  exhausted.  The  northern 
provinces  stood  faithful  to  the  end,  making  wp  in  con- 
stancy what  they  seemed  to  lack  in  fire.  It  has  been 
already  stated  that  the  ultimate  line  of  cleavage  fol- 
lowed that  of  race  ;  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  it  also 
followed  that  of  morals. 

In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  the  lower 
states  of  the  Netherlands  were  rather  distinguished  for 
high  drinking,  fast  living,  and  general  immorality.  By 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  this  reputation  was 
much  modified,  Italy  and  France  having  thrown  all  oth- 
er seats  of  vice  into  the  shade.  Still,  there  was  then,  as 
there  always  had  been,  a  great  contrast  in  matters  of 
morality  between  the  southern  and  the  northern  prov- 
inces.    Both,  it  may  be  observed,  had  the  German  vice 


MOKALITY  IN   HOLLAND  171 

of  drunkenness  largely  developed.  There  was  some- 
thing in  the  blood,  and  more  in  the  climate,  which  predis- 
posed these  people  to  an  indulgence  which  the  Latin  races 
looked  down  on  with  disgust  and  horror.  Yet,  as  the 
same  writers  who  mention  the  drunkenness  also  inform 
us  that  there  were  no  beggars  and  no  worthless  poor  in 
Holland,  we  must  either  believe  that  excessive  drinking 
was  not  followed  by  its  legitimate  results,  or  that  the 
drunkenness  was  largely  confined  to  the  upper  classes. 
The  latter  is  the  more  reasonable  explanation,  for  no 
nation  of  sots  could  have  done  the  work  which  these 
men  accomplished.* 

With  the  exception  of  this  one  vice,  the  people  of 
Holland  were  distinguished  above  all  the  nations  of  Eu- 
rope for  industry,  integrity,  and  general  purity  of  mor- 
als, and  these  traits  of  character  they  never  lost.  For- 
eigners sometimes  charged  them  with  too  great  desire 
for  gain,  despite  their  devotion  to  science  and  the  arts, 
but  no  one  ever  questioned  their  integrity.  Public  hon- 
esty is  of  later  growth  than  that  of  individuals,  men  in 
a  body  often  performing  acts  which  singly  they  would 
condemn ;  but  even  here  Holland  has  no  superior  in  his- 
tory. Throughout  her  long  war  with  Spain  the  national 
credit  stood  unimpaired.  The  towns,  when  besieged,  is- 
sued bonds  which  often  were  sold  at  a  large  discount; 
and  men  were  found  who,  as  in  later  times  among  our- 
selves, urged  that  the  purchasers  should  only  receive  the 
money  they  had  paid.  Ko  such  counsels,  however,  pre- 
vailed in  a  single  instance.  The  debts  of  the  towns,  like 
those  of  the  state,  were  invariably  paid  in  fuU.f 


*  Camden  says  that  the  English  acquired  their  taste  for  strong 
drink  in  the  Netherland  wars.     "  History  of  Elizabeth." 
t  Davies's  "  Holland,"  2'xissim. 


173       THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

Perhaps  the  most  conclusive  proof,  not  only  of  the 
high  state  of  morality,  but  also  of  the  general  advance- 
ment of  the  people,  is  found  in  the  position  of  their 
women.  Says  Guicciardini :  "  They  hold  adultery  in 
horror.  Their  Avomen  are  extremely  circumspect,  and 
are  consequently  alio^Yed  much  freedom.  They  go  out 
alone  to  make  visits,  and  even  journeys,  without  evil  re- 
port ;  they  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  More- 
over, they  are  housekeepers,  and  love  their  households." 
JSTor  was  that  all ;  the  women  were  educated,  and,  as 
among  some  Continental  na,tions  of  modern  times,  min- 
gled in  all  the  business  of  life,  buying  and  selling,  and  in 
many  cases  taking  entire  charge  of  the  family  property. 
The  virtue  of  such  wives  was  not  that  of  the  harem, 
whether  guarded  by  eunuchs  or  duennas ;  it  was  the  fruit 
of  a  high  civilization  developed  on  the  moral  as  well  as 
the  intellectual  side.  "What  part  these  women  took  in 
the  great  struggle  for  liberty  is  a  familiar  story. 


CHAPTER  III 

REVOLUTION   IN   THE    NETHERLANDS— 1555-1574 

At  the  first  glance  it  may  seem  strange  that  such  a 
people  as  the  Netherlanders  submitted  to  so  much  relig- 
ious persecution  before  rising  in  rebellion  against  their 
sovereign,  A  little  reflection,  however,  suggests  the 
answer.  In  the  first  place,  they  were  pre-eminently  a 
peaceful  race,  engaged  in  commerce  and  manufactures, 
and  for  many  years  unused  to  war;  while  their  ruler 
commanded  the  largest  and  best-disciplined  armies  of 
the  world.  'Next,  those  who  suffered  from  the  Inquisi- 
tion under  Charles  Y.  were  all  from  the  poorer  classes, 
and  the  death  of  a  few  thousand  scattered  peasants  or 
artisans  made  but  little  impression  on  any  community 
three  centuries  ago.  There  was  no  concert  of  action 
among  the  victims  or  their  friends,  and  they  Avere  in  a 
small  and  weak  minority.  In  addition,  the  excesses  of 
some  of  the  early  reformers  excited  the  fears  of  the  timid, 
and  in  the  religious  excitement  of  the  times  many  of  the 
supporters  of  the  established  church  became  as  zealous 
in  its  reformation  and  defence  as  were  the  Protestants 
in  their  opposition  to  it. 

Among  the  people  at  large,  Charles  was  a  great  favor- 
ite. He  was  born  in  the  E^etherlands,  lived  much  in  his 
native  land,  spoke  the  language,  was  free  and  jovial  in 
his  manners,  was  a  famous  soldier,  and  his  countrymen 
felt  proud  of  him  an(J  his  achievements.     He  probably 


174       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    A^SIERICA 

had  designs  upon  their  Uberties,  and  purposed,  when  he 
had  the  opportunity,  to  make  them  into  one  nation.  But 
the  time  never  came ;  and  so,  in  the  main,  he  respected 
their  ancient  rights,  even  to  the  point  of  keeping  the 
Inquisition  out  of  some  of  the  provinces  which  refused 
it  entrance. 

With  his  son  and  successor  all  this  was  changed. 
Philip  was  a  stranger,  born  in  Spain.  He  spoke  no  lan- 
guage except  Spanish ;  he  had  no  friends  except  Span- 
iards ;  he  cared  for  no  country  except  the  one  of  his 
nativity.  Regardless  of  their  rights,  he  forced  the  In- 
quisition on  all  the  provinces ;  in  violation  of  his  oath,  he 
filled  the  offices  wath  foreigners  ;  and,  unlike  his  father, 
he  trampled  on  rich  and  poor  alike.  Charles  had  not 
ruled  in  the  interest  of  any  particular  section  of  his  vast 
dominions.  He  had  established  no  capital,  but  moved 
about  with  his  court  from  place  to  place.  The  new 
monarch  settled  in  Madrid.  He  purposed  to  build  up  a 
gigantic  Spanish  monarchy,  of  which  his  other  posses- 
sions were  to  be  mere  provinces.  When  these  designs 
finally  became  apparent,  all  classes  in  the  Netherlands 
were  aroused,  and  rebellion  w^as  inevitable. 

Eleven  years  elapsed  after  the  abdication  of  Charles 
before  there  was  any  combined  resistance  among  the 
people.  They  were  years  of  misrule,  violation  of  char- 
tered rights,  and  extension  of  the  Inquisition.  At  first, 
Philip  had  attempted  to  quarter  Spanish  troops  upon  the 
country,  but  the  abandonment  of  this  scheme  had  been 
forced  upon  him  by  the  indignant  protests  of  the  whole 
community.  He  himself  w^as  in  Spain,  but  he  was  rep- 
resented in  the  Netherlands  by  Margaret  of  Parma — a 
natural  daughter  of  his  father — and  a  council  mostly 
composed  of  Spaniards.  At  length,  a  large  number 
of  the  wealthy  merchants  and  the  lesser  nobles  were 


THE   "BEGGARS"  175 

aroused  to  demand  a  cessation  of  the  cruelties  practised 
upon  their  poorer  brethren.  They  signed  a  bond  of 
alliance,  by  which  they  engaged  themselves  under  oath 
to  resist  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  the  continuance  of 
the  Inquisition,  as  contrary  to  all  laws  human  and  divine, 
and  to  devote  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  protection 
of  each  other.  In  April,  1566,  several  hundred  of  the 
confederates,  plainly  clad,  appeared  before  the  regent 
and  presented  a  petition,  setting  forth  that  the  Inquisi- 
tion was  likely  to  breed  rebellion,  and  asking  her  to 
suspend  its  operations.  Margaret  was  much  disturbed, 
but  made  no  answer.  Seeing  her  agitation,  one  of  the 
council  cried  out :  "  What,  madam !  is  it  possible  your 
highness  can  fear  these  beggars?"  The  words  spread 
like  wildfire.  The  members  of  the  alliance  adopted  the 
name  hurled  at  them  as  a  taunt,  dressed  themselves  and 
their  families  in  plain  gray  clothes,  fastened  in  their 
caps  a  little  wooden  porringer,  and  hung  about  their 
necks  a  medal  on  which  a  wallet  was  engraved.  Many 
of  them  were  subsequently  to  prove  recreant  to  the 
cause ;  but  the  name  survived,  and  the  "  Beggars  "  of 
the  sea  and  land  have  become  historic. 

The  action  of  the  nobles  at  once  emboldened  the  com- 
mon people.  Among  them,  despite  the  torture  and  the 
flames,  the  Reformation  had  taken  a  gigantic  stride. 
At  first,  they  had  studied  the  Bible  and  held  their 
meetings  in  private  ;  now,  they  came  out  into  the  plains 
and  public  fields  around  the  cities,  gathering  by  thou- 
sands, "  to  show,"  they  said,  "  how  many  the  Inquisi- 
tion would  have  to  burn,  slay,  and  banish."  Attempts 
were  made  by  the  authorities  to  disperse  these  as- 
semblies ;  and  then  the  reformers  went  out  as  if  to  battle, 
stationed  guards  about  their  encampments,  with  gun, 
pike,  and   sword  in  hand  listened  to  the  fervent  elo- 


176       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

quence  of  their  impassioned  preachers,  sang  one  of  the 
old  war  songs  of  David,  and  returned  home  in  military 
order. 

Under  such  a  stimulus  soon  came  the  inevitable  out- 
break. In  August,  1566,  four  months  after  the  "  Beg- 
gars "  had  presented  their  petition  to  the  regent,  the 
customary  procession  of  a  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin 
passed  through  the  streets  of  Antwerp.  As  the  priests 
swept  along  they  were  greeted  by  the  jeers  of  the  pop- 
ulace: "Mayken!  May  ken!"  (little  Mary)  "your  hour 
is  come."  A  riot  ensued,  the  crowd  hurried  to  the 
cathedral,  began  to  tear  down  the  images,  overthrow 
the  altars,  cut  out  the  pictures,  burn  the  mass-books, 
and  shatter  the  gorgeous  painted  windows.  For  two 
days  this  work  of  iconoclasm  went  on;  then  it  passed 
to  the  other  churches,  and  thence  to  the  neighboring 
towns  and  provinces,  until,  within  a  fortnight,  five  or  six 
hundred  sacred  edifices  had  been  despoiled  of  their  in- 
valuable art  treasures.  Strangely  enough,  all  this  was 
the  work  of  but  a  few  persons  from  the  lower  classes, 
who  committed  no  violence  to  man  or  woman,  and  kept 
none  of  the  plunder  for  themselves.* 

The  immediate  result  of  this  outbreak  was  favorable 
to  the  reformers.  Margaret,  in  terror,  first  thought  of 
flight,  and  then  published  an  "  Accord  "  which  abolished 
the  Inquisition  and  permitted  the  preaching  of  the  new 
doctrine.  With  joy  the  people  began  to  assemble  un- 
armed, and  even  to  erect  buildings  for  their  meetings. 
The  reaction,  however,  was  very  speedy.  The  upper 
classes  in  the  Netherlands  were  artistic  in  all  their 
tastes.  Their  aesthetic  as  well  as  their  religious  feelings 
were  shocked  at  the  destruction  of  the  treasures,  which 


*  Motley's  "  Dutch  Republic,"  i.  565,  etc. 


PHILIP  AND   THE    DUKE   OF  ALVA  177 

centuries  of  devotion  had  heaped  up  in  their  splendid 
churches.  Besides  this,  all  the  moderate  men  feared  the 
effects  on  business  of  these  popular  tumults  which  would 
draw  down  the  wrath  of  Philip.  The  regent  soon  dis- 
covered the  drift  of  public  sentiment  and  straightway 
changed  her  policy.  Calling  in  such  troops  as  she  could 
command,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  Catholic  nobles,  she 
began  a  system  of  repression  much  more  stringent  than 
any  ever  known  before.  Uprisings  followed  in  various 
quarters.  A  few  skirmishes  ensued  in  which  the  insur- 
gents were  easily  routed ;  hundreds  were  put  to  death, 
and  some  sections  almost  depopulated  by  the  exile  of 
those  who  left  their  homes  rather  than  abandon  their 
religion. 

Meanwhile,  all  eyes  were  turned  to  Spain  watching 
for  the  effect  produced  on  Philip  by  this  last  develop- 
ment of  Netherland  fanaticism.  For  a  time  he  con- 
cealed his  purposes,  promising  to  visit  the  provinces 
himself,  and  writing  fair  words  to  some  of  the  leading 
citizens.  This  was  but  the  lull  before  the  hurricane. 
Among  the  chief  advisers  of  the  king  was  a  soldier,  the . 
Duke  of  Alva,  always  prompting  him  to  measures  of 
severity.  Some  of  his  other  advisers,  being  civilians, 
now  counselled  moderation  and  concession ;  Alva  urged 
that  these  "  men  of  butter"  could  be  ruled  only  by  force. 
Supply  him  with  troops,  he  said,  and  the  war  should' 
pay  for  itself,  while  in  addition  he  would  pour  a  stream 
of  treasure  a  yard  deep  into  the  coffers  of  the  king.  Un- 
fortunately for  Spain,  Philip  listened  to  this  advice,  and 
committed  to  the  adviser  the  command  of  the  expedi- 
tion which  was  to  crush  out  civil  and  religious  liberty 
in  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands. 

Alva  was  a  typical  Spaniard  of  the  day.     He  was 
the  greatest  captain  of  a  state  which  was  now  the  lead- 
I.— 12 


178        THE    PUKITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND     AMERICA 

ing  military  po^yer  of  Europe.  To  understand  liim  and 
his  measures,  we  must  glance  at  the  history  of  Spain  for 
the  preceding  century.  Such  a  glance  will  show  how 
much  evil  may  be  wrought,  even  in  a  few  short  years, 
by  the  abuse  of  untrammelled  power. 

In  1469,  just  about  one  hundred  years  before,  Fer- 
dinand of  Aragon  was  marriect  to  Isabella  of  Castile. 
At  that  time  Spain  gave  almost  the  fairest  promise  for 
the  future  of  any  country  in  the  world.  In  the  south 
lay  Granada,  inhabited  by  the  Moors,  who  had  reached 
a  degree  of  excellence  in  agriculture  and  in  several  of 
the  mechanical  arts  unequalled  in  any  other  part  of 
Europe.  Proximity  to  them  had  educated  the  Spaniards 
of  Castile,  whose  cities  were  unsurpassed  by  any,  except 
by  those  of  Italy  and  the  Netherlands.  All  through 
the  provinces  were  scattered  the  Jews  who  had  emulated 
the  Arabs  in  keeping  alive  the  flame  of  learning  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages.  In  agriculture,  manufactures,  and 
commerce,  the  three  great  sources  of  national  wealth, 
the  people  were  making  rapid  progress.  In  popular 
education  they  for  some  time  led  all  their  contempo- 
raries.* Their  libraries  were  unrivalled,  and  their  uni- 
versities and  academies  had  for  centuries  attracted 
scholars  from  all  the  European  states.  Spain  possessed 
also  a  fair  measure  of  liberty.  The  government  of  Cas- 
tile was  as  free  as  that  of  England,  and  that  of  Aragon. 
beyond  all  question  far  more  so.f 


*  The  Moors  seem  to  have  been  the  first  in  modern  times  to  es- 
tablish free  schools,  of  which  there  were  eighty  in  Cordova  alone. 
Prescott's  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  i.  285. 

t  Macaulay's  "Essay  on  Hallam's  Constitutional  History."  Some 
of  their  important  institutions,  as  I  shall  show  hereafter,  have  been 
copied  by  other  nations,  and  as  usual  without  acknowledgment. 


LIBERTY  DESTROYED    IN    SPAIN  179 

The  free  institutions  of  Spain,  like  those  which  crop 
out  in  the  history  of  England  before  the  days  of  the 
Tudors,  arose  from  the  power  of  the  nobles  and  the 
weakness  of  the  central  government.  The  country  was 
divided  into  separate  provinces.  The  old  Gothic  love 
of  liberty  still  survived  among  the  nobles ;  it  made  them 
chivalric,  but  turbulent  and  unruly.  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, by  consummate  address  and  masterly  statesman- 
ship, built  up  a  powerful  consolidated  monarchy,  as  the 
Tudors  did  in  England,  and  as  Louis  XI.  did  in  France, 
but  they  crushed  out  the  spirit  of  freedom.  The  pe- 
culiar condition  of  the  country,  and  the  great  religious 
awakening  for  which  that  age  is  distinguished,  made 
this  a  comparatively  easy  task. 

First,  a  fanatical  zeal  was  aroused  against  the  Jews, 
and  for  their  extirpation  extraordinary  powers  were 
confided  to  the  sovereigns,  which,  once  acquired,  were 
used  against  all  classes.  Then,  a  crusade  was  organized 
to  expel  the  Moors.  The  ten  years'  holy  war  which 
followed  completed  the  royal  work.  The  monarchs 
wrested  from  the  Cortes  all  their  judicial  functions,  and 
conferred  them  on  tribunals  of  their  own  creation.  They 
obtained  from  the  pope  the  privilege  of  filling  the  bish- 
oprics and  grand-masterships  of  the  military  orders. 
They  reorganized  the  militia  of  the  cities,  and  created 
a  standing  army  to  overawe  and  subdue  the  nobles. 
Finally,  they  established  the  Inquisition,  ostensibly  for 
use  against  the  Jews  and  Moors,  but  in  its  development 
it  became  a  terror  to  all  Spain.  The  sovereigns  had  the 
power  to  name  the  Grand  Inquisitor  and  all  the  judges, 
and  thus  secured  an  engine  of  political  tyranny  une- 
qualled in  the  world.* 


*  Fisher's  "  Outlines  of  Universal  History,"  p.  370. 


180       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Meantime,  the  people  were  intoxicated  with  military 
ambition  and  the  triumphs  of  religious  fanaticism.  In 
1492,  the  history  of  Spain  was  marked  by  three  events 
which  form  the  turning-point  in  her  career.  They  were 
the  expulsion  of  tlie  Jews,  the  capture  of  Granada,  fol- 
lowed by  the  expulsion  of  the  larger  part  of  the  Moors, 
and  the  discovery  of  America.  The  disastrous  effect  of 
the  first  two  acts  has  been  noticed  by  many  writers. 
The  Jews  and  the  Moors  were  the  most  enlightened,  the 
most  industrious,  the  most  progressive  people  of  the 
whole  peninsula.  Driving  out  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  of  one  race  and  a  million  of  the  other  dealt 
a  severe  blow  to  the  national  prosperity.  Still,  it  is 
questionable  whether  the  country  suffered  as  much  in 
the  end  from  this  cause  as  from  the  voyage  of  the  im- 
mortal Columbus. 

The  opening-up  of  the  New  World  has  been  called  the 
greatest  event  in  historj'".  So  perhaps  it  was,  but  to 
Spain  it  was  the  greatest  curse.  Before  that  time  her 
people  were  tilling  the  soil,  building  up  manufactures, 
and  spreading  their  commerce,  laying  the  foundations 
of  a  substantial  and  enduring  prosperity.  The  wealth 
of  Mexico  and  Peru  changed  them  into  a  race  of  advent- 
urers and  robbers.  Who  would  cultivate  the  land,  or 
toil  at  the  loom  or  by  the  furnace,  when  bold  men  across 
the  seas  were  winning  with  the  sword  treasures  of  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones,  which  they  could  not  count, 
but  measured  by  the  yard!*  In  1512,  Gonsalvo,  the 
Great  Captain,  had  raised  an  army  for  service  in  Italy. 
Before  marching,  an  order  came  for  its  disbandment. 
At  the  time  a  squadron,  bound  for  the  ISTew  World,  was 
lying  in  the  Guadalquivir.     Its  complement  was  fixed 


*  Prescott's  "  Conquest  of  Peru." 


KUIN  OF   NATIONAL   PROSPERITY.— MILITARY    GREATNESS     181 

at  twelve  hundred  men,  but  at  once  three  thousand 
of  the  recent  volunteers,  many  of  them  representing 
noble  families,  clad  in  splendid  armor  on  which  their 
all  had  been  expended,  hastened  to  Seville  and  pressed 
to  be  admitted  into  the  Indian  armada.  Seville  itself 
was  said,  about  this  period,  to  have  been  almost  de- 
populated by  the  general  fever  of  adventure,  so  that 
it  seemed  to  be  tenanted  only  by  females.* 

The  demoralization  extended  to  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. Honest  labor  came  to  be  despised  in  the  race 
for  ill-gotten  wealth.  Gold  and  silver  poured  in,  fort- 
unes were  amassed ;  but  the  prosperity  was  all  illusive, 
for,  with  agriculture  and  manufactures  neglected,  the 
land  was  impoverished  and  the  sun  of  Spain  was  going 
down.  It  set,  however,  in  a  blaze  of  military  glory. 
The  men  trained  in  the  wars  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella became  under  Charles  Y.  the  bravest,  best-disci- 
plined, and  most  skilful  soldiers  since  the  days  of  the 
Eoman  legions,  ximong  no  race  has  ever  been  shown 
greater  constancy  in  hardships,  or  greater  prowess  in 
the  field.  In  the  Old  World,  as  in  the  ISTew,  they  fought 
not  alone  for  glory,  but  for  the  spoils  of  victor}^.  When 
captured  cities  were  given  up  to  plunder,  private  proj)- 
erty  distributed  among  the  conquerors,  and  prisoners 
were  for  heavy  sums  ransomed  from  their  captors,  bold 
and  adventurous  spirits  looked  to  no  other  means  than 
war  for  making  or  adding  to  their  fortunes.f 


*  Prescott's  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  iii.  370, 471. 

t  The  prejudice  against  honest  labor  which  had  grown  up  in  Spain 
must  be  kept  in  mind,  if  we  would  understand  the  conduct  of  the 
Spaniards  in  the  Netherlands.  Not  only  were  the  insurgents  rebels 
and  heretics,  but,  being  engaged  in  industrial  pursuits,  they  were 
looked  down  upon  as  men  entitled  to  none  of  the  rights  accorded 


182       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

A  century  of  such  training  had  bred  the  man  who  now 
turned  his  hungry  eyes  upon  the  rich  and  fertile  jSTeth- 
erlands.  The  Duke  of  Alva  had  been  a  soldier  since 
his  boyhood,  having  fought  in  Italy,  in  Germany,  and 
against  the  Turks,  winning  his  way  to  the  highest  hon- 
ors. While  he  was  an  infant  bis  father  was  killed  in 
an  engagement  with  the  Moors  ;  the  son  grew  up  sworn 
to  wreak  vengeance  on  all  unbelievers.  In  his  youth 
he  was  the  favorite  cavalier  of  romance  and  song.  Mar- 
ried at  twenty-two,  he  had  in  seventeen  days  ridden 
from  Hungary  to  Spain  and  back,  in  order  to  see  his 
bride  for  a  few  hours.  All  this,  however,  had  long  since 
passed  away.  Under  forty  years  of  Spanish  warfare 
his  youthful  chivalry  had  ripened  into  fanaticism,  cruel- 
ty, and  avarice.  At  sixty  years  of  age,  tall,  thin,  erect, 
with  a  long  face  and  yellow  cheeks,  piercing  black  eyes, 
and  a  sable  silvered  beard,  he  looked  the  imperturbable 
man  of  fate.  The  army  now  intrusted  to  his  command 
numbered  only  ten  thousand  men.  The  force  seems 
small  for  the  subjugation  of  even  seventeen  little  prov- 
inces, but  it  was  made  up  of  the  picked  veterans  of  Eu- 
rope. "With  a  thousand  less  efficient  troops,  Cortez  had 
taken  Mexico,  and  with  a  hundred  and  eighty  Pizarro 
had  reduced  Peru.  Besides  this,  behind  the  commander 
stood  the  wealth  of  Spain,  and  the  ability  to  hire  all 
the  mercenaries  of  the  world. 

In  August,  1567,  Alva  and  his  army  reached  the 
jN^etherlands.  There  they  found  an  outward  calm.  The 
public  preaching  of  the  reformers  had  been  suppressed, 
and  most  of  the  nobles  showed  contrition  for  their  pre- 
vious disloyalty.     The  regent  was  satisfied  that  all  dis- 


to  members  of  the  noble  or  military  orders.    This  feeling,  as  we  shall 
see  hereafter,  was  not  confined  to  the  Spaniards. 


ALVA   AND    HIS    COUNCIL   OP    BLOOD  183 

turbances  were  at  an  end,  and  implored  her  brother  and 
his  representative  to  pardon  the  past  and  pursue  a  pol- 
icy of  peace.  Of  this  the  Spaniards  had  no  idea.  What ! 
pardon  men  whose  bodies  they  purposed  to  burn,  and 
tlieir  estates  to  confiscate  ?  What  would  become  of  the 
gold-mine  which  they  had  marched  so  far  to  open  ? 

Alva  began  his  work  with  celerity  and  decision.  The 
month  after  his  arrival  he  organized,  without  semblance 
of  law,  the  tribunal  for  the  punishment  of  those  engaged 
in  the  late  disorders,  which  has  made  his  name  so  in- 
famous. He  called  it  the  Council  of  Troubles,  but  it 
soon  acquired  the  title  of  the  Council  of  Blood.  It  was 
composed  of  twelve  members,  but  only  two  of  the  num- 
ber (both  Spaniards)  had  a  vote.  Even  these  two  could 
only  recommend,  the  final  decision  resting  with  Alva, 
who  soon  became  governor-general,  as  the  regent  threw 
up  her  office  in  despair. 

In  this  council,  Alva  worked  seven  hours  a  day.  Be- 
fore three  months  had  passed,  eighteen  hundred  persons 
had  suffered  death  by  its  summary  proceedings,  some  of 
them  the  highest  in  the  land.*  It  had  no  rules  and  no 
regular  system  of  practice;  an  accusation  was  made, 
depositions  were  obtained  in  secret  and  submitted  to 
the  board,  and  then  the  sentence  of  death  almost  imme- 
diately followed.  The  one  great  crime  seemed  to  be 
that  of  having  wealth.  Men  guilty  of  this  offence  had 
little  assurance  of  safety  except  in  flight. 

The  effect  of  these  proceedings  upon  the  peaceful 
IS'etherlanders  may  be  imagined,  it  certainly  cannot  be 
described.  A  terror  seized  upon  them,  such  as  is  felt  by 
the  peasants  living  on  Vesuvius  when  the  crater  begins 
to  belch  forth  liquid  flame.      Still,  the  latter  can  flee 


*  Motley,  ii.  136. 


184        THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

before  their  enemy ;  but  very  soon  no  such  refuge  was 
left  to  the  miserable  men  who  withered  before  this  fiery 
blast.  They  were  leaving  the  country  in  such  numbers 
that  Alva  placed  a  substantial  embargo  on  all  vessels, 
and  established  a  system  for  the  examination  of  trav- 
ellers by  land,  which  made  escape  almost  impossible. 
However,  the  exodus  to  England  had  already  taken 
place,  which,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  was  largely  to 
affect  her  future. 

From  the  character  of  his  reception  in  the  ISTether- 
lands,  Alva  may  have  considered  the  subjugation  of  the 
country  an  easy  task.  If  so,  he  was  speedily  undeceived. 
To  be  sure,  the  common  people  seemed  cowed  by  terror, 
and  most  of  the  nobles  and  the  wealthy  citizens  at- 
tempted to  make  their  peace.  Still,  there  remained  two 
enemies  unsubdued,  and  while  they  were  free  the  strug- 
gle was  not  ended.  The  one  was  a  man,  William,  Prince 
of  Orange ;  the  other  was  the  sea,  the  friend  of  liberty, 
the  vassal  of  the  IsTetherlands. 

The  man  did  not  at  that  time  appear  to  Alva  a  formi- 
dable adversary.  For  us  he  stands  out  on  the  page  of 
history  as  one  of  its  most  heroic  characters.  Unlike  our 
"Washington,  whom  in  many  traits  of  character  he  much 
resembled,  he  was  born  to  high  rank,  wealth,  and  lux- 
ury. From  his  earliest  youth  he  had  been  the  associate 
of  emperors  and  kings.  A  soldier,  an  orator,  a  diplo- 
matist, he  loved  society  and  pleasure.  All  these  acces- 
sories of  life  he  cheerfully  abandoned.  For  his  country 
he  sacrificed  his  private  fortune,  sought  exile,  poverty, 
almost  disgrace.  He  lived  to  see  his  well-loved  Holland 
substantially  redeemed,  and  died  the  "Father  WiUiam" 
of  his  people.* 


*  He  was  the  author  of  the  sayiug,  imputed  to  so  many  others, 


WILLIAM   OF   ORANGE  185 

Born  in  1533,  at  fifteen  he  became  the  page  and  favor- 
ite of  Charles  Y.,  at  eighteen  one  of  his  trusted  counsel- 
lors, at  twenty-one  commander  of  an  army.  "When  the 
emperor  went  through  the  magnificent  ceremony  of  his 
abdication,  it  w^as  upon  the  arm  of  William  of  Orange  that 
he  leaned.  Under  Philip  he  was  sent  as  a  hostage  to 
the  Court  of  France.  While  there  the  incident  occurred 
from  which  he  has  been  called  the  "  Silent."  The  French 
monarch  supposed  that  his  princely  guest  was  fully  in 
the  confidence  of  the  King  of  Spain.  Hence,  one  day 
while  hunting,  he  unfolded  to  him  all  the  details  of  a 
scheme  by  which  the  two  monarchs,  reconciled  with 
each  other,  were  to  crush  out  heresy  in  their  respective 
kingdoms.  The  prince  listened  in  silence  to  the  fateful 
secret,  neither  then  nor  thereafter,  by  word  or  action, 
betraying  his  feelings  at  the  revelation.  Forewarned, 
however,  he  devoted  his  life  to  counteract  the  plot,  and 
to  rid  his  country  of  the  hated  Spaniards.  He  was  a 
Catholic,  but  he  believed  in  religious  toleration ;  he  was 
a  Netherlander,  and  therefore  believed  in  civil  libert}^ 

When  Philip  returned  to  Spain  he  appointed  William 
of  Orange  stadtholder  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  Utrecht. 
He  was  also  made  a  member  of  the  grand  council  of 
Margaret,  the  regent.  Knowing  the  gravity  of  the  situ- 
ation, he  went  cautiously  about  his  life-task.  He  took 
little  part  in  demonstrations,  but  set  out  to  fortify  him- 
self impregnably  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Always 
counselling  moderation,  he  softened  the  rigors  of  the 
government,  while  so  acting  as  to  force  its  hand.  He 
aided  in  putting  down  the  iconoclastic  riots,  but  then 


"A  friend  is  cheaply  bought  by  a  bow."  It  was  his  answer  when 
reproached  with  too  much  condescension  to  the  poor.  Du  Maurier, 
p.  167.     Davies's  "  Holland,"  ii.  149. 


186         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

interposed  on  the  side  of  mercy.  'No  other  man  in  the 
country  seemed  so  fully  to  realize  what  Philip  intended 
by  sending  Alva  with  an  army  to  the  Netherlands. 
When  their  coming  was  definitely  settled,  "William  re- 
solved on  flight. 

The  exile,  as  Prince  of  Orange,  had  estates  in  Ger- 
many, and  thither  he  retired.  He  had  strong  friends 
among  the  Protestants  of  the  empire,  and  with  them, 
with  the  Huguenots  of  France,  and  the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land, began  to  build  up  a  party  against  Spain.  Among 
his  firmest  allies  were  his  own  four  brothers,  who  through 
good  and  evil  report  clung  to  his  fortunes,  three  of  them 
laying  down  their  lives  in  the  contest  for  liberty.  With 
their  aid,  by  subscriptions  from  the  ISTetherland  cities 
and  from  the  refugees  in  England,  through  the  sale  of 
his  own  jewels,  plate,  and  tapestry,  and,  when  these 
were  gone,  by  loans  on  his  individual  credit,  several  ar- 
mies were  raised  with  which  in  the  summer  and  fall 
of  1568  he  levied  war  on  Alva.  His  commissions  ran 
in  the  name  of  Philip,  just  as  those  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament of  England  subsequently  ran  in  the  name  of 
Charles  I. 

Events  proved  that  raw  levies  could  not  make  stand 
against  the  disciplined  troops  of  Spain,  and  that  the 
mass  of  the  people  were  not  yet  ripe  for  revolution. 
In  an  early  engagement,  to  be  sure,  the  insurgents 
achieved  a  success  by  entrapping  the  enemy  into  a  mo- 
rass, as  their  ancestors  had  done  at  the  battle  of  Cour- 
trai ;  but  they  were  ultimately  routed  in  the  open  coun- 
try, with  a  loss  of  seven  thousand  against  a  Spanish  loss 
of  seven.  Upon  this  venture  the  Prince  of  Orange  had 
risked  his  all.  ISTow,  broken  in  fortune,  with  his  Neth- 
erland  estates  under  confiscation,  harassed  by  creditors, 
and  with  military  prestige  gone,  he  joined  the  Hugue- 


ALVA    COMMEMORATES    HIS    TRIUMPH  187 

nots  in  France,  to  fight  there  the  conflict  which  at  home 
seemed  temporarily  hopeless.* 

One  enemy  appeared  to  be  snbdued.  In  the  autumn 
of  1568  Alva  erected  a  monument  at  Antwerp  to  com- 
memorate his  triumph.  It  consisted  of  a  colossal  statue 
of  himself,  with  a  man  having  two  heads  lying  at  his 
feet.  What  he  intended  the  prostrate  figure  to  repre- 
sent was  explained  to  no  one.  Some  thought  that  it 
represented  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  his  brother  Louis ; 
some,  Egmont  and  Horn,  who  had  recently  been  exe- 
cuted; others,  the  nobles  and  commons  of  the  ISTether- 
lands.  As  the  duke  was  one  day  busied  in  its  con- 
templation, a  companion,  accustomed  to  take  liberties, 
remarked  "  that  the  heads  grinned  so  horribly,  it  was  to 
be  feared  they  would  wreak  a  signal  vengeance  if  ever 
they  should  rise  again."  f  The  people  treasured  up  the 
prophecy.  To  Alva  it  must  have  seemed  absurd.  Con- 
strue the  riddle  as  one  mio'ht,  at  least  he  had  the  two 
heads  under  foot.  But  he  left  out  of  calculation  his 
other  enemy,  the  sea. 

While  in  France,  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  advised 
by  Coligny  to  abandon  for  the  present  all  thought  of 
operations  by  land,  which  were  expensive  and  therefore 
now  impracticable,  and  to  confine  his  warfare  to  the 
ocean.  The  wise  suggestion  was  speedily  adopted. 
There  was  no  money  for  the  equipment  of  a  navy,  but 
there  were  scores  of  brave  and  hardy  sailors,  owning 


*  Some  idea  of  the  state  in  which  he  had  formerly  lived  can  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  on  one  occasion,  desiring  to  reduce  his 
establishment,  he  dismissed  twenty -eight  head  cooks.  To  have 
served  in  his  household  was  a  sufficient  recommendation  for  a  ser- 
vant to  any  prince  in  Germany.     Prescott's  "  Philip  II.,"  i.  487. 

t  Davies"s  "  Holland,"  i.  565. 


188        THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

their  own  vessels,  who  were  only  too  happy  to  carry 
on  a  private  war.  With  commissions  to  cruise  against 
the  Duke  of  Alva  and  his  adherents,  these  "Beggars 
of  the  Sea,"  as  they  called  themselves,  soon  made  their 
power  felt. 

From  the  ocean  was  struck  the  first  blow  which 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Its 
eif ects  were  not  then  appreciated ;  in  fact,  it  seemed  like 
a  misfortune ;  but  it  contributed  somewhat  to  force 
England  into  the  controversy,  and  also  to  bring  about 
the  consolidation  of  the  Catholics  and  Protestants  at 
home  which  was  essential  to  a  successful  revolution. 
Early  in  1569,  some  privateers,  holding  commissions 
from  the  Prince  of  Conde,  chased  into  the  ports  of  Eng- 
land several  merchantmen  belonging  to  Spain,  with 
eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  specie,  borrowed  from 
Itahan  bankers  for  the  payment  of  Alva's  troops.  Ke- 
maining  outside,  they  blockaded  the  harbor  so  that  the 
trading  ships  did  not  dare  to, put  to  sea.  The  Spanish 
ambassador  complained  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  prom- 
ised speedy  redress.  She  granted  it  by  seizing  on  the 
money  and  appropriating  it  to  herself  as  a  loan  from  its 
Italian  owners.  This  high-handed  act,  committed  while 
the  two  nations  were  at  peace,  infuriated  Alva.  He  is- 
sued a  proclamation  commanding  the  arrest  of  every 
Englishman  in  the  Netherlands,  and  the  seizure  of  all 
English  property.  Elizabeth  retaliated  by  measures  of 
the  same  character,  to  which  Alva  replied  by  forbidding 
all  intercourse  with  England.  Appeals  were  made  to 
Philip  in  Spain,  but  it  was  four  years  before  the  con- 
troversy was  finally  arranged.* 

Meantime,  the  Flemish  manufacturers  and  merchants, 

*  Froude,  ix.  371. 


ALVA   CONTINUES   HIS   WORK    AGAINST    HERESY  189 

deprived  of  English  wool  and  excluded  from  an  English 
market,  suffered  greatly.  Hostilities  were  now  brought 
to  their  very  doors.  It  was  no  longer  a  question  of 
murdering  a  few  thousand  heretics,  but  one  which  af- 
fected directly  their  national  prosperity.  Upon  Eng- 
land the  effect  was  more  marked,  not  only  upon  trade, 
but  in  other  quarters.  Elizabeth  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  insurgents  in  the  Netherlands,  and  had  committed 
this  act  of  spoliation  simply  in  the  spirit  of  a  corsair 
queen,  assuming  that  Spain  was  too  much  absorbed  to 
make  reprisals.  She  was  right  in  thinking  that  Philip 
did  not  wish  to  add  another  enemy  to  his  list,  but  nei- 
ther he  nor  Alva  ever  quite  forgave  the  outrage.  With 
this  event  begin  the  plots  for  her  dethronement  and  the 
substitution  of  her  cousin,  Mary  Stuart.  Shortly  there- 
after occurred  the  Catholic  uprising  in  the  northern 
counties,  and  the  pope's  bull  of  excommunication  against 
Elizabeth. 

"While  these  results  were  working  out  across  the 
Channel,  Alva  was  not  idle.  He  went  on  with  his 
work  as  if  possessed  by  the  evil  genius  of  Spain.  Al- 
though the  country  was  now  at  peace,  no  halt  was  called 
in  the  process  of  exterminating  heresy.  For  some 
months,  to  be  sure,  a  general  pardon  was  promised ;  but 
when  promulgated  with  a  great  parade,  in  the  summer 
of  1570,  the  exceptions  were  found  to  be  so  numerous 
as  to  work  its  virtual  cancellation.  The  fires  still  blazed 
around  the  stake,  the  scaffolds  ran  with  blood,  and  the 
pits  in  which  the  victims  were  buried  while  alive  mul- 
tiplied on  every  side.  And  yet  the  rich  mines  to  be 
opened  by  the  Spaniards  did  not  yield  the  promised 
treasure.  Alva  had  been  obliged  largely  to  increase  his 
army,  which  now  numbered  over  sixty  thousand ;  he  had 
manned  all  the  old  fortresses  and  built  new  citadels, 


190         THE  PURITAN  IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

until  the  country  looked  like  a  camp  of  Spain.  All  this 
was  necessary  to  keep  the  insurgent  elements  under 
foot,  but  it  took  large  sums  of  money,  and,  although  the 
confiscations  were  numerous  enough,  the  expenses  left 
no  profits.  The  promised  stream  of  gold  fl.owed  in  the 
wrong  direction  for  the  royal  coffers,  and  the  duke  had 
enemies  at-  court  whose  tongues  were  never  idle. 

Of  Alva's  military  ability  there  can  be  no  question ; 
he  was  now  to  show  himself  the  most  incapable  of  states- 
men and  financiers.  In  Spain,  and  in  his  own  dukedom, 
there  existed  a  very  simple  method  of  taxation.  All 
the  land  paid  one  per  cent,  annually  on  its  value,  and 
when  sold  it  paid  five  per  cent.  This  latter  tax  was 
heavy,  but  that  on  the  sales  of  personal  property  was 
twice  as  large,  being  one  tenth  of  the  selling  price. 
Among  an  agricultural  people,  where  land  was  rarely 
sold,  and  where  the  only  sales  of  personal  property  were 
those  of  the  produce  of  the  soil,  this  system  had  worked 
without  resistance.  The  brilliant  idea  now  occurred  to 
the  Spanish  general  that,  applied  to  the  ISTetherlands,  it 
would  solve  his  financial  problem  and  enable  him  to 
realize  his  promised  stream  of  gold. 

"When  this  proposition  was  submitted  to»the  assem- 
blies of  the  states,  in  1569,  it  was  greeted  with  an  in- 
dignant protest.  Such  a  tax  was  not  only  violative  of 
all  the  ancient  charters,  but  it  would  be  ruinous  to 
trade.  Among  a  manufacturing  community  an  article 
is  sold  many  times  before  it  reaches  the  hand  of  the  con- 
sumer. A  tax  of  ten  per  cent,  on  every  sale  would 
amount  to  a  substantial  confiscation.  These  and  kin- 
dred arguments  were  urged  upon  the  duke,  but  he  re- 
mained inflexible.  His  only  answer  was  that  it  worked 
well  among  his  people.  At  length  all  the  representa- 
tives gave  way  except  those  from  Utrecht.    That  prov- 


ALVA'S   TAX   AND    ITS   EFFECTS  191 

ince  was  adjudged  to  have  forfeited  all  its  privileges 
and  was  subjected  to  an  enormous  fine.  The  people, 
however,  were  so  aroused,  and  so  great  a  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  governor,  that  in  consideration 
of  a  large  sum  of  ready  money  he  consented,  for  two 
years,  from  1570,  to  suspend  the  operation  of  the  law. 
The  two  years  rolled  around,  long  enough  for  the  per- 
secuted Protestants,  but  far  too  short  for  the  men  of 
business,  who  foresaw  impending  ruin.  When  the  time 
was  up,  Alva  announced  that  there  should  be  no  more 
postponements. 

Here,  at  last,  the  crisis  of  the  struggle  had  arrived. 
Religious  persecution  must  of  necessity  affect  compar- 
atively few,  unjust  taxation  touches  every  member  of 
society.  Men  may  differ  about  articles  of  faith  and 
theories  of  government,  but  all  alike  feel  the  burden 
when  the  tax-gatherer  appears.  Hence,  sagacious  states- 
men glove  the  hand  which  fills  the  public  purse.  Of 
this  wise  policy,  Alva,  whose  hands  were  cased  in  mail, 
knew  nothing.  The  great  difficulty  in  bringing  about 
an  uprising  in  the  Netherlands  had  arisen  from  the 
fact  that  the  Protestants  for  a  long  time  were  in  a  mi- 
nority, and  were  mostly  made  up  of  the  poorer  classes. 
It  was  an  age,  too,  when  military  discipline  was  all-im- 
portant for  conflicts  in  the  field.  The  fortresses  and 
walled  towns  with  which  the  land  was  studded  were 
mostly  garrisoned  by  Spanish  troops,  and  could  be  taken 
only  by  a  general  concert  of  action  among  the  citizens. 
This  concert  of  action,  which  had  hitherto  been  impos- 
sible, the  last  act  of  Alva  was  now  to  bring  about. 

In  1570.  the  Huguenot  war  in  France  had  come  to  an 
end  by  the  ill-fated  peace  which  led  to  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew.  William  of  Orange  had  again  retired 
to  Germany.    Ever  watchful  and  untiring,  he  kept  up  a 


192        THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

constant  communication  with  the  Netherlands.  There 
the  work  was  going  bravely  on.  The  air  was  full  of 
the  electricity  which  precedes  a  storm.  The  discontent 
was  universal,  for  the  people  foresaw  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  their  civil  as  well  as  their  religious  liberty. 
When  the  moment  for  action  came,  it  developed  a  poli- 
cy which  America,  two  centuries  later,  followed  in  its 
resistance  to  the  Stamp  act.  Eather  than  pay  the  tax 
of  Alva,  the  people,  by  unanimous  consent,  suspended 
business.  Every  form  of  industry  came  to  a  sudden 
stand.  Even  the  brewers  refused  to  sell  their  beer,  the 
bakers  to  make  bread,  or  the  hotel-keepers  to  furnish  ac- 
commodations for  their  guests.  Multitudes  of  workmen 
out  of  employment  filled  the  streets ;  the  Spanish  soldiers 
went  hungry  because  they  could  no  longer  purchase  pro- 
visions. Alva,  of  course,  was  in  a  fury.  Armed  resist- 
tance  he  could  meet,  but  how  make  an  entire  people  re- 
sume their  occupations  ?  At  length  he  hit  upon  a  plan 
in  consonance  with  his  whole  course  of  conduct.  Of 
yielding  he  had  no  thought,  but  he  would  make  a  terri- 
ble example  of  some  of  these  refractory  shopkeepers. 

Early  in  April,  15Y2,  he  sent  one  night  for  the  public 
executioner.  To  him  he  gave  an  order  to  arrest  at  once 
eighteen  of  the  leading  tradesmen  of  Brussels,  and  early 
in  the  morning  hang  them  each  in  his  own  doorway. 
The  ropes  and  extempore  scaffolds  were  prepared,  but 
before  the  morning  dawned  Alva  was  awakened  to  hear 
of  something  more  important  than  the  sale  of  bread  and 
meat.  It  was  the  outbreak  on  the  sea-coast  which  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  Dutch  Eepublic. 

In  the  latter  days  of  March,  a  fleet  of  twenty-four 
vessels,  belonging  to  the  Beggars  of  the  Sea,  was  lying 
off  the  southern  coast  of  England.  It  was  commanded 
by  Admiral  William  de  la  Marck,  a  descendant  of  the 


CAPTUEE   OF   BRILL  193 

"Wild  Boar  of  Ardennes,  whom  Scott  has  immortalized 
in  one  of  his  great  novels.  He  was  related  by  blood  to 
Egmont,  and,  according  to  the  old  Batavian  custom,  had 
sworn  to  let  his  hair  and  beard  grow  until  his  country 
was  free  or  his  kinsman's  death  had  been  avenged.  A 
savage,  lawless,  and  licentious  ru£Ban,  he  had  inflicted 
great  damage  on  the  commerce  of  Spain,  and  in  his 
warfare  had  not  always  spared  the  property  of  neutrals. 
At  this  time  the  controversy  between  Elizabeth  and 
Philip,  arising  out  of  the  seizure  of  the  Italian  money, 
was  hastening  to  an  amicable  adjustment.  Alva  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  countenance  given  by  the  people 
of  England  to  the  Netherland  cruisers,  who  made  that 
country  a  base  of  operations.  The  queen  was  willing 
to  avoid  a  cause  of  offence  which  brought  no  benefit  to 
her.  She  therefore  issued  a  peremptory  order,  forbid- 
ding any  of  her  subjects  longer  to  supply  them  with 
provisions.  Thus,  driven  out  of  their  last  port  of  refuge, 
De  la  Marck  and  his  companions  took  to  sea  and  started 
for  the  coast  of  Holland.  Entering  the  Meuse,  they  sud- 
denly appeared  before  the  town  of  Brill. 

Brill,  though  well  walled  and  fortified,  chanced  at  that 
moment  to  be  without  a  Spanish  garrison,  its  troops 
having  been  just  before  transferred  to  Utrecht.  The 
Beggars,  learning  this  fact,  boldly  demanded  the  sur- 
render of  the  town.  They  numbered  only  three  or  four 
hundred,  at  the  most,  but  the  fame  of  their  exploits  and 
the  fear  of  the  inhabitants  magnified  them  into  as  many 
thousands.  Assured  of  protection  for  private  property, 
the  magistrates  surrendered  without  resistance,  but, 
having  no  confidence  in  the  promises  of  the  corsairs,  at 
once  fled  the  place,  with  all  the  leading  citizens.  Had 
De  la  Marck  been  alone,  the  outcome  would  have  justi- 
fied their  a23prehensions.  He  had  determined  to  plunder 
I.— 13 


194       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

the  town  and  then  consign  it  to  the  flames.  Fortu- 
nately wiser  counsels  prevailed.  One  of  the  ships  was 
commanded  by  William  de  Blois,  Seigneur  of  Treslong, 
whose  father  had  once  been  governor  of  Brill.  His 
brother  had  been  executed  by  Alva,  and  he  himself  al- 
most cut  to  pieces  in  the  disastrous  campaign  of  1568. 
He  had  since  taken  to  the  sea  and  become  one  of  the' 
most  distinguished  of  the  Beggars.  More  far-sighted 
than  the  admiral,  he  insisted  that  the  town  should  be 
held  for  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The  ferocious  De  la 
Marck  finally  consented,  but  paid  off  part  of  his  debt  to 
the  Council  of  Blood  by  sacking  the  churches  and  hang- 
ing thirteen  monks  and  priests.* 

The  news  of  this  exploit  reached  Alva  just  as  he  was 
preparing  to  try  his  scheme  for  opening  the  shops  of 
Brussels.  The  joy  shown  on  every  face  revealed  the 
gravity  of  the  situation.  The  executions  could  wait,  but 
here  was  something  that  required  immediate  action.  Ten 
companies  of  veterans  were  at  once  sent  from  Utrecht 
to  retake  the  town.  They  arrived  before  its  walls,  but 
the  quick-witted  defenders  cut  the  dikes  and,  rowing 
through  the  water,  set  lire  to  some  of  the  transport-ships. 
Hemmed  in  between  the  flood  and  flame,  the  Spaniards 
retired  and  Brill  was  free.  Its  inhabitants  returned  to 
their  homes  and  took  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  William, 
Prince  of  Orange,  as  stadtholder  for  his  majesty.  N^ot 
yet  had  the  people  any  idea  of  renouncing  their  allegi- 
ance ;  but,  although  they  knew  it  not,  the  corner-stone  of 
the  republic  was  laid,  and  they  had  discovered  the  mode 
of  warfare  which  was  to  make  their  liberties  secure. 


*  Motley,  ii.  350-355.  Shortly. after  this  event  the  bloody  and 
intractable  De  la  Marck  -was  removed  from  office,  deprived  of  his 
commission,  and  forced  to  leave  the  country.     Motley,  ii.  435,  475. 


THE    NORTH    IN    REVOLUTION  195 

William  of  Orange  was  at  first  disconcerted  when  he 
heard  of  the  bold  enterprise  of  De  la  Marck  and  Tres- 
t  long.  He  was  preparing  again  to  invade  the  Nether- 
lands, but  his  arrangements  were  incomplete,  and  he  did 
not  believe  that  the  people  were  ready  for  a  general 
uprising.  Under  such  circumstances,  a  piratical  foray 
on  a  peaceful  town  might  well  work  mischief.  The 
prudence  of  Treslong  prevented  the  danger  in  the  latter 
direction,  while  the  march  of  events  was  to  show  how 
easily  the  wisest  man  may  be  mistaken  as  to  public 
sentiment. 

For  about  four  years  William  had  been  absent  from 
the  IsTetherlands.  Although  in  constant  correspondence 
with  his  friends  at  home,  he  could  not  realize  the  changes 
which  had  been  worked  since  his  last  unfortunate  cam- 
paign. But  the  men  who,  since  the  first  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards,  had  been  hoping  against  hope,  finally  had 
learned  that  Alva  was  not  acting  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility. As  for  the  Spanish  commander  himself,  he 
never  understood  the  people  over  whom  he  tyrannized. 
In  the  southern  provinces,  where  his  residence  was 
fixed,  he  was  surrounded  by  a  mercurial  race  of  Gallic 
descent,  turbulent,  seditious,  loud  of  speech,  and  quick 
to  anger.  These  men  he  considered  dangerous,  and  to 
hold  them  in  subjection  he  had  built  vast  fortresses  and 
filled  them  with  his  veterans.  In  the  north,  the  people 
of  Germanic  blood  were  of  a  very  different  type.  They 
were  more  quiet  of  speech  and  less  demonstrative,  actors 
rather  than  talkers ;  men  who,  under  a  calm  demeanor, 
concealed  a  devotion  to  principle,  a  dogged  determina- 
tion, and  an  heroic  courage  which  have  never  been 
surpassed.  They  were  to  prove  themselves  the  Puritans 
of  the  ^Netherlands,  and  they  deceived  the  Spanish  soldier 
just  as  their  kinsmen  in  England  and  America  with  cor- 


196       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

responding  qualities  have  deceived  foolish  men  of  the 
world  from  that  day  to  this.  Like  all  who  have  ever  met 
the  Puritans  in  battle,  he  changed  his  mind  about  their 
character.  He  began  by  calling  them  "  men  of  butter," 
but  found  that  they  were  men  of  iron.  Before  leav- 
ing the  country  he  admitted  their  unexampled  bravery, 
and  declared  that  they  were  the  same  men  whose  por- 
traits Csesar  and  Tacitus  had  drawn.  "Well  he  might, 
for  Spain  was  to  discover  to  her  sorrow  that,  like  their 
Batavian  ancestors,  when  other  nations  went  to  battle, 
they  went  to  war.* 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  cause  of  the  patriots  that  in 
the  early  days  of  the  contest  Alva  had  not  understood 
these  men.  Regarding  them  as  peaceful  and  phlegmatic, 
easily  governed  and  not  likely  to  be  dangerous,  he  had 
placed  few  troops  among  them,  and  had  left  their  for- 
tresses with  rather  insuificient  guards.  He  was  finally 
to  be  undeceived.  The  capture  of  Brill  was  but  the 
spark  applied  to  a  train  of  gunpowder.  The  important 
city  of  Flushing  was  the  first  to  rise  and  overpower  its 
small  Spanish  garrison.  Soon  following  in  its  footsteps 
came  nearly  all  the  important  cities  of  Holland,  Zeeland, 
and  the  northern  provinces.  I^aturally,  there  were 
bloodshed  and  disorder,  acts  of  wild  vengeance  on  the 
part  of  men  with  human  passions  who  had  suffered  so 
terribly  for  many  years ;  but  in  the  main  the  revolution 
was  a  peaceful  one.f 

Unlike  the  outbreak  of  the  iconoclasts,  six  years  be- 
fore, the  uprising  now  was  general,  and  it  was  marked 
by  a  feature  of  peculiar  interest.  Before  this  time,  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter,  the  suffrage  had  in 


*  Tacitus,  "  Germania,"  §§  29,  30. 

t  See  Froude,  x.  393,  etc.,  for  some  of  its  dark  features. 


THE   GOVERNMENT    KEORGANIZED  197 

most  parts  of  the  country  been  taken  from  the  people 
at  large,  and  lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  few  persons, 
mainly  among  the  wealthy  classes.  Now,  in  all  the 
redeemed  cities,  new  boards  of  magistrates  were  estab- 
lished, and  they  were  elected  by  a  popular  vote.  The 
republic  was  thus  founded  on  the  will  of  the  people, 
although  in  time  the  old  system  was  re-established. 
What  kind  of  a  people  they  were  who  founded  the  re- 
public is  shown  by  the  oaths  which  they  exacted  from 
the  magistrates.  The  new  officials  swore  fidelity  to  the 
King  of  Spain,  and  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  as  his  stadt- 
holder ;  resistance  to  Alva,  his  tenth-paying  tax,  and  the 
Inquisition ;  and  "  to  support  every  man's  freedom  and 
the  welfare  of  the  country,  to  protect  widows,  orphans, 
and  miserable  persons,  and  to  maintain  justice  and 
truth."  *  Thus  the  fiction  of  an  allegiance  to  Philip  was 
still  maintained,  but  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  every- 
where regarded  as  the  actual  ruler  of  the  country.  From 
his  military  post  in  Germany  he  directed  all  movements 
with  the  zeal  of  a  patriot  and  the  skill  of  a  statesman. 
One  measure  he  always  insisted  on,  and  it  forms  the 
key-note  of  all  his  policy.  Although  the  feeling  against 
the  Catholics  was  bitter,  and  it  had  been  intensified  by 
a  partisan  struggle  in  which  the  reformers  had  now  be- 
come the  victors,  he  proclaimed  and  enforced  full  re- 
ligious toleration,  requiring  an  oath  from  all  officers  and 
magistrates  that  they  would  "  offer  no  let  or  hindrance 
to  the  Eoman  churches." 

The  year  1572  gave  great  promise  for  the  cause  of 
liberty.  The  larger  part  of  the  northern  provinces  had 
been  freed  from  the  yoke  of  Spain ;  recruits  poured  in 
for  the  army,  and  even  volunteers  began  to  come  from 


Motley,  ii.  367. 


198       THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

England.*  From  the  South,  too,  came  joyful  tidings. 
Louis  of  Nassau,  a  younger  brother  of  William  of  Or- 
ange, was,  next  to  Coligny,  the  idol  of  the  French  Hu- 
guenots. Among  them  he  numbered  his  friends  by 
thousands.  An  earnest  Christian  and  a  Protestant,  he 
was  also  a  gallant,  dashing  soldier,  of  charming  man- 
ners and  address,  beaming  with  sunshine,  the  mirror  of 
knightly  courtesy.  Well  was  he  called  the  Bayard  of 
the  Netherlands.  He  had  also  influence  at  court.  France 
and  Spain  were  ancient  enemies.  Henry  II.,  who  thir- 
teen years  before  was  plotting  with  Philip  to  crush  out 
heresy  in  their  respective  kingdoms,  had  shortly  there- 
after met  a  sudden  death.  His  son,  Charles  IX.,  was 
now  upon  the  throne.  He  was  a  young  man,  just  come 
of  age,  and  was  moved  to  lend  secret  aid  to  the  insur- 
gents. In  May,  Louis  of  jSTassau,  with  a  small  force  of 
Huguenots,  captured,  by  a  brilliant  feat  of  arms,  the 
city  of  Mons.  Mons  was  the  capital  and  principal  town 
of  Hainault,  the  southern  province  of  the  Netherlands. 
It  was  surrounded  by  lofty  walls,  contained  a  citadel 
of  strength,  and,  lying  near  the  frontier,  could  with 
French  aid  be  made  of  great  importance  to  the  patriots. 
Swiftly  following  this  success  came  the  news  that  a 
Spanish  fleet  had  been  taken  as  it  attempted  to  sail  by 
Flushing. 

A  soldier  less  brave  and  less  experienced  than  Alva 
might  well  have  been  crushed  under  the  storm  which 
thus  pelted  him  from  every  quarter.  For  a  time  even 
he  knew  not  where  to  turn,  but  the  news  from  Mons 


*  Two  hundred  Englisli  volunteers  went  to  Flushing  under  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Thomas  Morgan.  Meteren,  book  iv. ; 
Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  584.  Froude  says  five  hundred  at  first,  and 
more  in  a  second  detachment.    Froude,  x.  379. 


BRIGHT   PROSPECTS  FOR   THE   FUTURE— 1572  199 

decided  his  course  of  action.  That  city  must  be  retaken, 
and  for  the  purpose  he  despatched  his  son,  Don  Freder- 
ick, with  a  force  of  veterans.  Meantime,  the  fact  that 
he  had  made  a  mistake  in  his  financial  policy  was  forced 
upon  him.  Eeluctantly  moved  to  the  admission,  on  the 
2-ith  of  June  he  summoned  the  Estates  of  Holland  to 
meet  at  The  Hague  on  the  15th  of  the  ensuing  month, 
promising  then  to  abolish  the  obnoxious  tax. 

The  concession  came  too  late.  The  contest  had  now 
changed  its  character.  The  assembly  met,  not  at  The 
Hague  and  not  on  his  call,  but  at  Dort  and  on  the  call 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  was  still  in  Germany  en- 
gaged in  raising  an  army.  He  needed  trained  soldiers 
to  meet  the  veterans  of  Spain,  and  such  soldiers  could 
be  hired  i\i  plenty,  but  they  demanded  a  guarantee  of 
pay.  This  the  assembled  congress  of  Holland  agreed  to 
furnish,  giving  the  obhgations  of  some  of  the  cities  to 
pay  the  army  for  three  months.  The  arrangement  was 
satisfactory,  and  on  the  27th  of  August  William  of  Or- 
ange began.-  his  march  at  the  head  of  twenty-four  thou- 
sand men.  He  directed  his  course  towards  Mons  for 
the  relief  of  his  brother  Louis.  That  adventurous  sol- 
dier was  now  in  dire  peril.  The  little  force  with  which 
he  had  surprised  the  city  was  inadequate  to  hold  it 
against  Don  Frederick  and  his  besieging  army.  Some 
Huguenot  troops,  who  had  been  sent  to  his  relief,  were 
foolishly  entrapped  and  utterly  destroyed.  Still,  the 
approaching  army  gave  promise  of  speedy  succor. 

As  the  Prince  of  Orange  marched  along,  city  after 
city  of  the  South  opened  its  gates  and  hailed  him  as  a 
savior.  Some  refused  admission,  but  on  the  whole  the 
patriotic  feeling  appeared  almost  as  widespread  as  in 
the  northern  provinces.  The  dawn  of  liberty  seemed 
breaking  into  a  noonday  blaze.     I^othing  except  a  con- 


200       TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

vulsion  of  nature  could  now  long  postpone  the  hour  of 
deliverance  from  the  tyranny  of  Spain.  Suddenly,  as 
if  from  a  cloudless  sky,  came  the  bolt  which  was  to 
shatter  all  these  hopes.  Through  the  terror-stricken 
air  flew  the  tidings  that  the  Huguenots  had  been  mas- 
sacred in  France.  To  appreciate  what  this  meant  to 
the  patriots  of  the  ISTetherlands,  we  must  recall  their  sit- 
uation. 

They  were  fighting  the  mistress  of  a  third  of  the 
known  globe.  They  themselves  were  almost  unused  to 
arms.  Germany  had  at  one  time  seemed  friendly,  but 
its  emperor  was  now  allied  by  marriage  to  Philip,  and 
denounced  the  revolution.  Elizabeth  of  England  had 
made  her  peace  with  Spain,  cared  nothing  for  the  cause, 
and,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  could  not  be  counted  on  for 
aid.  To  France  alone  the  reformers  looked  for  assist- 
ance. There  they  could  count  as  friends  a  large  body 
of  influential  Protestants,  headed  by  Coligny,  himself  a 
tower  of  strength.  He  had  acquired  a  great  influence 
over  the  feeble-minded  youthful  Charles,  who  was  at 
length  persuaded  that  it  was  to  his  interest  to  curb  the 
growing  power  of  Spain.  The  religious  war  which  had 
been  waged  for  years  was  at  an  end.  A  marriage  had 
been  arranged  between  Henry  of  ISTavarre  and  the  sis- 
ter of  the  king.  Most  of  the  leading  ELuguenots  assem- 
bled at  Paris  to  witness  the  ceremony  whicli  was  to 
consolidate  a  lasting  peace  between  the  factions,  and 
give  France  her  true  position  as  the  arbiter  of  Europe. 
Her  open  support,  it  was  well  known,  would  then  be 
given  to  the  rebellious  Netherlanders.  Well  might  they 
feel  assurance  of  success. 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  wrought  de- 
struction to  their  hopes,  was  not  a  premeditated  crime. 
It  was  the  result  of  a  sudden  impulse  on  the  part  of 


THE   ST.  BARTHOLOMEW   MASSACRE      .  201 

Catherine  de'  Medici,  the  mother  of  the  king.  She  was 
jealous  of  the  ascendency  which  Coligny  had  acquired 
over  the  mind  of  her  son,  and  plotted  his  destruction. 
But  her  jealousy  had  a  basis  much  deeper,  and  one  much 
more  creditable  to  her  character  than  any  feeling  of 
mere  personal  pique. 

With  all  her  moral  defects,  Catherine  was  a  woman 
of  ability.  She  cared  nothing  for  religious  questions, 
but  did  care  for  what  she  regarded  as  the  interest  of 
France.  To  her  the  extreme  Catholics  and  the  extreme 
Protestants  were  equally  objectionable,  for  each  threat- 
ened the  peace  and  greatness  of  the  kingdom.  The 
time  had  now  come,  however,  when  she  thought  it  wise 
to  side  with  the  latter  against  Philip  and  the  j)apacy. 
But  such  action  was  impracticable  without  the  aid  of 
some  foreign  power.  She  had  therefore  proposed  that 
England  should  join  the  Huguenots  of  Prance,  and  sus- 
tain the  struggling  Protestants  of  the  K'etherlands,  To 
this  coalition  Elizabeth  was  urged  by  her  ministers,  and 
Catherine  was  led  to  believe  that  the  scheme  would  be 
carried  out.  It  was  in  this  belief  that,  setting  the  pope 
at  defiance,  she  had  consented  to  the  marriage  of  her 
daughter  to  a  Protestant,  and  to  the  raising  of  the  army 
which  was  to  march  under  Coligny  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange. 

At  the  last  moment  came  the  intelligence  that  not 
only  was  Elizabeth  playing  with  the  question  of  a  French 
alliance,  but  that  she  was  secretly  plotting  with  Philip 
and  Alva  to  gain  for  herself  some  personal  advantage 
from  the  situation.  Thus  bereft  of  her  only  Protestant 
ally,  Catherine  naturally  sided  with  the  stronger  part3^ 
The  Huguenots  still  demanded  the  war  with  Spain  and 
the  papacy;  but  such  a  war,  in  a  country  where  the 
Catholics  formed  the  large  majority  of  the  population, 


203      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

could  bring  only  ruin  to  France.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, the  conduct  of  Catherine,  although  worthy  of 
all  the  execration  which  it  has  received,  is  not  one  of 
the  mysteries  of  history.  Coligny  guided  the  counsels 
of  the  king,  and  was  urging  him  on  a  course  which  she 
thouo;ht  disastrous  to  the  nation.  He  therefore  must  be 
removed."'^ 

First,  an  assassin  shot  at  the  aged  admiral,  but  only 
inflicted  a  severe  wound.  At  once,  his  outraged  friends 
demanded  the  detection  and  punishment  of  those  who 
stood  behind  the  would-be  murderer.  Catherine  and 
her  adherents  were  alarmed  at  the  cry  for  vengeance, 
and  instantly  resolved  to  secure  their  safety  by  exter- 
minating the  whole  brood  of  heretics.  The  scheme  was 
after  a  brief  delay  put  in  execution,  the  delay  being 
caused  by  tlie  reluctance  of  the  king  to  kill  his  old 
friend,  and  the  best  man  among  his  subjects.  His  moth- 
er, however,  answered  such  scruples  by  portraying  the 
danger  to  herself,  the  peril  to  the  throne  from  a  general 
uprising  of  the  Huguenots,  and  finally  by  taunting  him 
with  want  of  courage.  When  committed  to  the  plot, 
Charles  hurried  on  with  feverish  haste.  As  ferocious 
as  he  was  imbecile  and  cowardly,  he  demanded  that  the 
deed  should  be  done  at  once,  and  that  none  of  the  pro- 
scribed religion  should  be  left  in  France  to  reproach  him 
for  the  crime.  How  rapidly  and  how  thoroughly  the 
work  was  done,  the  world  knows  b}^  heart. 

The  Catholic  powers  of  Europe  hailed  the  news  with 
joy.  The  pope  ordered  a  Te  Deum  to  be  sung  in 
honor  of  the  victory  over  the  enemies  of  Rome.  In 
Spain,  the  saturnine  Philip  laughed  as  he  had  never 
laughed  before.      England,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  a 


*  Froude,  x.  383-396. 


DISASTROUS   RESULTS   IN    THE   NETHERLANDS  203 

thrill  of  horror.  The  queen,  but  for  whose  duplicity 
there  would  probably  have  been  no  massacre,  went  into 
mourning  with  her*whole  court,  refused  for  a  time  to 
see  the  envoy  of  France,  and,  when  an  audience  was 
granted,  listened  to  his  explanations  in  total  silence. 
Still,  such  expressions  of  cheap  sympathy  were  followed 
by  no  action.  The  ISTetherlanders  now  stood  without 
a  friend.  This  stupendous,  insensate  crime  had  driven 
their  only  ally  into  the  arms  of  Spain.  Indeed,  it  seemed 
that  the  French  ambassador,  when  congratulating  Philip, 
had  told  the  truth  in  saying  that  to  his  royal  master's 
work  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  he  owed  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  JSTetherlands. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  was  met  by  the  overwhelming 
tidiness  while  on  his  march  to  Mons.  He  knew  at  once 
that  all  was  over  in  the  South.  The  Duke  of  Alva  had 
joined  Don  Frederick  with  the  flower  of  his  army.  They 
were  strongly  intrenched  about  the  beleaguered  city, 
holding  a  position  which  could  not  be  taken  by  assault. 
All  attempts  to  draw  them  into  an  engagement  were 
unsuccessful,  for  Alva  was  too  prudent  a  general  to  risk 
a  victory  which  a  little  time  would  give  him  without  a 
battle.  The  delay  was  brief,  for  the  hired  mercenaries, 
knowing  that  France  would  send  no  further  reinforce- 
ments, and  doubtful  of  their  future  pay,  refused  to 
march.  Sadly  enough  the  few  remaining  patriots  re- 
traced their  steps  across  the  Rhine.  The  army  was  dis- 
banded; Mons  surrendered;  the  Belgic  cities  returned 
to  their  allegiance,  Mechlin  being  sacked  with  indescrib- 
able atrocity  as  an  example  to  future  rebels ;  and  all  save 
hope  seemed  lost. 

The  miracle  had  been  wrought  which  alone  appeared 
capable  of  defeating  the  cause  of  the  reformers.  When 
William  of  Orange  was  on  his  march  with  an  army  large 


204       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

and  well  equipped,  with  France  and  England  as  prospec- 
tive allies,  with  cities  opening  their  gates,  and  the  people 
about  him  tumultuous  with  joy,  it  looked  as  if  the  last 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  contest  had  been  opened, 
and  that  we  might  prepare  to  close  the  book.  In  fact, 
the  struggle  had  just  begun  which  was  to  last  for  near- 
ly eighty  years,  to  be  illuminated  with  deeds  of  valor 
such  as  have  never  been  surpassed,  making  up  a  tale  of 
Puritan  constancy  and  virtue  which  will  forever  serve 
as  a  beacon  light  to  the  oppressed  of  every  age  and 
clime. 

Upon  the  disbandment  of  his  army  the  Prince  of 
Orange  betook  his  way,  almost  alone,  to  Holland.  It 
was  about  the  only  remaining  faithful  province,  and  was 
to  prove  more  faithful  than  even  he  had  dreamed  of. 
Man,  he  thought,  had  deserted  him ;  but  while  in  exile  he 
had  learned  to  place  his  trust  in  another  Power  whose 
steadfastness  he  never  subsequently  doubted.  Writing 
four  years  before,  in  a  private  letter  to  his  wife,  he  said : 
"  I  have  resolved  to  place  myself  in  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty,  that  he  ma}^  guide  me  whither  it  is  His  good 
pleasure  that  I  should  go.  I  see  well  enough  that  I  am 
destined  to  pass  this  life  in  misery  and  labor,  with  which 
I  am  well  content  since  it  thus  pleases  the  Omnipotent, 
for  I  know  that  I  have  merited  still  greater  chastisement. 
I  only  implore  him  graciously  to  send  me  strength  to 
endure  with  patience."  *  This  was  the  key-note  of  the 
Puritanism  which  was  to  rejuvenate  the  world.  It  was 
the  confidence  in  an  all-wise  overruling  Providence  that 
led  to  the  triumph  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  nerved  the 
arms  of  the  Ironsides  who  fought  with  Cromwell,  kept 
up  the  hopes  of  Washington,  and  inspired  the  heart  of  a 


*  Motley,  ii.  246. 


THE  POSITION    OF    HOLLAND  205 

Lincoln  and  a  Grant.     To  him  wlio  does  not  appreciate 
this  element  history  is  of  little  value. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  describe  with  any  detail  the 
long  ensuing  war  with  Spain,  in  which  Holland  was  to 
take  the  leading  part.  The  important  subjects  for  the 
purposes  of  this  work  relate  to  the  institutions  of  the 
people,  their  progress  in  civilization,  the  national  charac- 
ter developed  by  the  struggle,  and  the  mode  in  which 
their  Puritanism  came  to  affect  their  neighbors  across 
the  Channel,  and,  later  on,  the  settlers  in  America.  The 
comprehension  of  these  questions  required  something  of 
an  extended  review  of  the  causes  of  the  conflict,  and  this 
must  now  be  supplemented  by  at  least  a  sketch  of  its 
subsequent  progress,  showing  how  it  developed  into  a 
religious  struggle,  and  then  into  a  war  for  independence. 
In  this  sketch  the  reader  will  find,  as  he  has  found  in  the 
preceding  pages,  a  re-statement  of  some  incidents  which 
other  writers  have  made  familiar.  But  however  familiar 
such  incidents  may  be,  they  take  on  an  interest  entirely 
new  when  we  come  to  realize  that  here  Avas  the  influence 
which  shaped  the  character  of  the  English  Puritans ;  this 
conflict  serving  for  them  as  a  perpetual  object-lesson, 
showing  what  they  might  expect  from  the  assertion  of 
absolute  power  in  the  State  and  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Eomish  Church.  Certain  it  is  that  unless  one  keeps 
this  story  in  mind  the  subsequent  history  of  England 
and  America  is  inexplicable. 

After  the  surrender  of  Mons,  Holland  was  almost  de- 
serted by  her  associate  provinces.  But  although  stand- 
ing substantially  alone,  her  people  were  firmly  resolved 
that  the  Inquisition  and  the  illegal  taxation  with  which 
they  had  at  length  done  away  should  never  be  reinstated. 
Fortunately,  her  geographical  situation  gave  her  some 
important  advantages  in  the  coming  contest.     Within 


206         THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

her  borders  were  numerous  walled  towns,  each  a  minia- 
ture republic,  with  its  civic  guard  and  train-bands,  which 
Americans  would  call  militia.  Most  of  these  towns  were 
located  on  some  arm  of  the  sea  or  navigable  river,  so  that 
their  commerce  could  with  difficulty  be  impeded.  Here 
the  people  lived,  carrying  on  their  ordinary  vocations  as 
fishermen,  manufacturers,  and  merchants ;  such  places  as 
were  not  captured  growing  rapidly  in  wealth  and  popu- 
lation. As  a  rule,  they  were  below  the  level  of  the  water 
and  protected  from  its  ravages  by  extensive  dikes,  be- 
hind which  spread  cultivated  fields  and  fertile  pastures. 
It  was  evident  that  in  the  open  country  the  insurgents 
could  make  no  stand  against  the  disciplined  troops  of 
Spain.  Even  that  triumph,  however,  was  to  come  at  a 
later  day  when  they  met  and  defeated  them,  man  to 
man.  'Now,  in  the  early  stages  of  the  contest,  the  sole 
object  of  either  party  was  to  gain  possession  of  the 
walled  towns  which  the  other  held. 

To  illustrate  the  character  of  this  warfare,  and  the 
heroism  displayed  by  the  patriots,  a  few  incidents,  show- 
ing some  of  its  different  phases,  will  serve  a  better  pur- 
pose than  pages  of  description. 

In  Holland,  at  the  close  of  1572,  Amsterdam  was  the 
only  city  held  by  Alva.  From  this  point  as  a  base,  he 
set  out  to  conquer  the  remainder  of  the  province.  The 
Prince  of  Orange  was  in  the  southern  portion,  and  his 
lieutenant  in  the  northern  district.  Between  them  on  a 
narrow  strip  of  land,  but  five  miles  wide,  lay  the  city  of 
Harlem,  large  and  beautiful,  but  with  a  small  garrison 
and  works  of  little  strength.  It  was  only  ten  miles  from 
Amsterdam,  and  Alva  regarded  it  as  the  key  to  the  situ- 
ation. Its  capture,  he  thought,  would  be  an  easy  matter. 
About  its  walls  Don  Frederick  encamped,  in  December, 
with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  veterans.     Preceding 


SIEGE    OP    HAELEM  207 

the  siegre  occurred  one  of  the  events  which  add  a  touch 
of  picturesqueness  to  this  extraordinary  war. 

The  weather  being  cold,  a  few  armed  vessels  belonging 
to  Holland  became  frozen  in  the  ice.  Don  Frederick,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  this  accident,  despatched  a  small  picked 
force  to  capture  them.  Suddenly,  as  the  Spaniards  went 
slipping  and  sliding  on  their  way,  there  appeared  before 
them  a  skating-party  fully  armed.  A  lively  skirmish 
ensued,  in  which  the  men  from  the  South  were  as  help- 
less as  were  the  clumsy  galleons  of  the  Invincible  Armada 
before  the  nimble  privateers  of  Drake  and  Frobisher. 
At  its  conclusion  the  Hollanders  skated  off,  leaving  sev- 
eral hundred  of  the  enemy  dead  upon  the  ice.  Such  a 
form  of  warfare  was  novel  to  Alva,  but  he  was  not  to 
be  outdone.  At  once  he  ordered  seven  thousand  pairs 
of  skates,  and  his  soldiers  soon  became  proficient  in  their 
use. 

This  little  incident  gave  a  gleam  of  encouragement  to 
the  burghers  of  Harlem,  but  their  situation  was  hopeless 
from  the  first.  Without,  was  an  army  of  thirty  thou- 
sand men,  and  within,  a  garrison  of  only  four  thousand. 
But  although  Alva  expected  to  take  the  place  in  a  Aveek, 
its  siege  lasted  for  seven  long  months.  On  both  sides 
prodigies  of  valor  were  performed.  Three  hundred  wom- 
en, led  by  a  widow  of  a  distinguished  family,  organized 
a  corps  of  Amazons,  and  fought  like  trained  soldiers  in 
the  ranks.  When  assaults  were  attempted,  the  besieged 
poured  boiling  oil  and  blazing  pitch  on  the  heads  of  the 
assailants.  Men,  women,  and  children  worked  to  repair 
the  breaches  in  the  wall.  In  one  attack  upon  the  city 
three  or  four  hundred  Spaniards  were  slain,  and  only 
three  or  four  of  the  defenders.  Finding  that  assaults 
were  useless,  the  enemy  began  to  mine  the  walls,  and 
were  met  by  countermines.     In  the  darkness,  under  the 


208       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

earth,  fierce  and  bloody  conflicts  ensued.  "  These  citi- 
zens," Avrote  Don  Frederick,  "  do  as  much  as  the  bravest 
soldiers  in  the  world  could  do."  At  one  time  he  de- 
spaired of  taking  the  place,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  his 
father,  asking  permission  to  withdraw.  "  Tell  Don  Fred- 
erick," said  Alva, "  that  if  he  be  not  decided  to  continue 
the  siege  till  the  town  be  taken,  I  shall  no  longer  con- 
sider him  inj  son,  whatever  my  opinion  may  formerly 
have  been.  Should  he  fall  in  the  siege,  I  will  myself 
take  the  field  to  maintain  it ;  and  when  we  have  both 
perished,  the  duchess,  my  wife,  shall  come  from  Spain 
to  do  the  same." 

Meantime  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  using  every  effort 
to  relieve  the  city,  but  all  was  useless  against  the  number 
and  discipline  of  the  besiegers.  In  one  of  these  attempts, 
a  single  Hollander,  John  Ilaring,  of  Horn,  planted  on  a 
narrow  dike,  with  sword  and  shield  kept  a  thousand 
Spaniards  at  bay  until  his  comrades  had  effected  a  re- 
treat. Then,  like  Horatius  of  old,  he  plunged  into  the 
water  and  made  his  own  escape. 

Thus  the  winter  and  spring  rolled  on.  In  March,  a 
thousand  of  the  garrison  made  a  sally  from  the  walls, 
and,  with  a  loss  of  but  four  of  their  party,  killed  eight 
hundred  of  the  enemy,  burned  three  hundred  tents,  and 
captured  seven  cannons,  nine  standards,  and  many  wagon- 
loads  of  provisions.  Such  feats  as  this  led  Alva  to 
write  to  Philip  that  "  it  was  a  war  such  as  never  before 
was  seen  or  heard  of  in  any  land  on  earth,"  and  that 
''  never  was  a  place  defended  with  such  skill  and  bravery 
as  Harlem,  either  by  rebels  or  by  men  fighting  for  their 
lawful  prince."'"  Still  there  was  one  enemy  against 
whom  skill  and  bravery  are  powerless.     By  June,  gaunt 


*  Motley,  ii.  444. 


HARLEM  SURRENDERS— BUTCHERY  IN  COLD  BLOOD       209 

famine  appeared  within  the  gates.  Even  be  was  baffled 
long.  Wben  tbe  ordinary  food  bad  been  consumed,  tbe 
people  lived  on  linseed  and  rapeseed  from  wbicb  tbey  bad 
been  making  oil;  tben  on  dogs,  cats,  rats,  and  mice ;  next 
tbey  boiled  tbe  bides  of  oxen  and  borses,  tben  devoured 
tbeir  boots  and  shoes,  and  finally  tore  up  the  nettles  from 
the  graveyards  and  the  grass  from  between  the  stones. 

By  tbe  middle  of  July  famine  bad  conquered.  Every 
vestige  of  food  was  gone,  and  tbe  heroic  defenders  of 
the  doomed  city  resolved  to  die  together.  Forming  all 
the  women,  cliildren,  sick,  and  aged,  into  a  square,  and 
surrounding  them  with  the  able-bodied  men,  they  were 
determined  to  fight  tbeir  way  out,  and  dearly  sell  tbeir 
lives.  Learning  of  this  resolve,  and  knowing  that  it 
would  be  put  in  execution,  Don  Frederick  offered  hand- 
some terras  for  an  immediate  surrender.  A  letter  was 
sent,  by  bis  order,  promising  ample  forgiveness  to  tbe 
town,  and  that  no  one  should  be  punished  except  such 
as  tbe  citizens  themselves  thought  worthy  of  it.  I^o  in- 
tention existed  of  observing  these  conditions,  but  tbe 
people,  for  tbe  last  time,  put  tbeir  trust  in  Spanish  hon- 
or. They  were  to  learn  that  it  was  a  cardinal  principle 
of  Philip  and  bis  adherents  to  keep  no  faith  with  here- 
tics. The  garrison  bad  been  reduced  during  the  siege 
to  eighteen  hundred  men,  of  whom  six  hundred  were 
Germans.  These  were  spared,  and  sent  home  on  pa- 
role. Tbe  rest,  some  of  whom  were  English  volunteers, 
with  eleven  hundred  of  tbe  citizens,  were  butchered  in 
cold  blood  on  tbe  day  after  tbe  surrender.  Five  execu- 
tioners were  detailed  for  tbe  bloody  work ;  when  they 
gave  out,  the  victims  were  bound  back  to  back  and  hurled 
into  tbe  lake.*     This  restricted  slaughter  Avas  regarded 


*  Motley,  ii.  454. 
I— 14 


210       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

by  Alva  as  proving  the  natural  humanity  of  his  gentle 
disposition.  It  was,  in  fact,  mildness  itself  as  compared 
with  the  fell  work  wrought  by  his  commands  in  other 
places.  When  Zutphen  was  taken  by  assault  and  N^aar- 
den  by  capitulation,  every  woman  was  violated,  and  then 
almost  every  human  being  murdered,  the  towns  being 
left  a  waste. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  life-and-death  struggle 
upon  which  the  Hollanders  had  entered.  With  the  sur- 
render of  Harlem,  their  fortunes  seemed  to  have  reached 
a  very  low  ebb,  but  they  never  for  an  instant  thought 
of  wavering.  Alva  long  before  had  offered  to  abandon 
his  odious  tax.  He  now  proclaimed  a  general  pardon 
for  the  past  if  the  insurgents  would  return  to  their  alle- 
giance. All  his  overtures  were  met  with  silence.  In  fact, 
the  outlook,  if  dark  for  Holland,  was  not  promising  for 
Spain.  Twelve  thousand  of  her  bravest  soldiers  lay  buried 
before  the  walls  of  Harlem.  Seven  months  had  been  con- 
sumed in  taking  a  single  city,  and  that  one  of  the  weak- 
est in  the  province.  Such  a  people  could  not  be  con- 
quered, and  to  exterminate  them  at  this  rate  would  make 
Spain  a  desolation.  The  only  question  was  whether,  in 
such  a  mode  of  warfare,  the  besieged  or  the  besiegers 
would  first  lose  heart.     This  was  speedily  determined. 

In  August,  1573,  Don  Frederick,  with  sixteen  thousand 
men,  set  out  to  take  the  town  of  Alkmaar,  in  the  north 
of  Holland.  The  place  was  a  small  one,  containing  only 
eight  hundred  soldiers  and  thirteen  hundred  able-bodied 
burghers.  This,  again,  was  to  be  an  easy  capture,  and 
Alva  proclaimed  that  as  clemency  in  the  case  of  Har- 
lem had  proved  a  failure,  he  now  would  not  leave  a  hu- 
man being  alive.  An  investment  was  begun,  so  perfect 
that  it  was  declared  not  even  a  sparrow  could  enter  or 
leave  the  city.     In  September,  all  preparations  being 


THE    SPANIARDS   REPULSED   FROM   ALKMAAR  211 

completed  and  the  works  having  been  sufficiently  bom- 
barded, a  general  assault  was  ordered.  Certainly  these 
sixteen  thousand  trained  veterans  could  overwhelm  this 
puny  garrison.  Again,  as  in  Harlem,  the  men,  women, 
and  children  fought  with  stones,  boiling  oil,  burning 
pitch,  and  molten  lead.  Hoops  dipped  in  tar  and  set 
on  fire  were  thrown  around  the  necks  of  the  assailants, 
while  those  who  mounted  the  breaches  were  met  with 
sword  and  dagger.  A  Spanish  officer,  who  was  hurled 
from  the  battlements,  reported  that  he  had  seen  "  nei- 
ther helmet  nor  cuirass"  as  he  looked  down  into  the  city, 
"  only  some  plain-looking  people,  generally  dressed  like 
fishermen."  When  the  recall  was  sounded,  a  thousand 
veterans  lay  dead  in  the  trenches,  while  the  "  fishermen  " 
had  lost  but  thirty-seven.* 

The  next  day  Don  Frederick  ordered  the  assault  to  be 
renewed,  but  the  end  had  come.  His  invincible  legions 
refused  to  move ;  men  they  Avould  fight,  but  not  these 
devils.  Entreaties  were  tried,  and  several  of  the  sol- 
diers were  run  through  the  bodies  by  their  officers ;  but 
all  in  vain.  They  would  not  brave  again  the  old  Bata- 
vian  spirit  before  which  Eome  itself  had  quailed.  The 
siege  dragged  on  for  another  month,  during  which  time 
the  people  of  the  surrounding  country  had  resolved  to 
cut  the  dikes  and  overflow  the  district.  The  sacrifice 
was  enormous,  for  it  involved  the  destruction  of  a  vast 
amount  of  property;  but  the  point  had  been  reached 
where  a  drowned  land  was  regarded  as  a  lesser  evil  than 
the  Spanish  rule.  The  work  was  accordingly  begun, 
but  as  the  water  rose  Don  Frederick,  too,  abandoned 
heart  and  hastily  retreated.  Alkmaar,  like  Brill,  had 
been  saved  by  fire  and  flood. 


*  Motley,  ii.  468, 


212       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

Alva  had  now  been  six  years  in  the  country  pursuing 
his  poUcy  of  repression.  He  had  boasted  that  he  would 
crush  out  heresy  and  rebellion,  and  make  the  war  pay 
its  own  expenses  with  a  handsome  profit.  At  the  close 
of  the  six  years  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  become  a  Cal- 
vinist,  and  almost  all  the  people  of  Holland  and  Zeeland 
professing  Protestants ;  the  rebellion  had  grown  into  a 
war,  and  Alva's  treasury  was  bankrupt.  For  months 
the  baffled  and  disappointed  governor-general  had  peti- 
tioned for  his  recall.  Even  he  could  not  stand  the  uni- 
versal execrations  of  a  nation.  Finally,  in  December, 
15Y3,  his  prayer  was  granted  and  he  left  for  home, 
boasting,  as  it  was  said,  that,  exclusive  of  those  who  fell 
in  battle,  siege,  and  massacre,  he  had  executed  eighteen 
thousand  six  hundred  heretics  and  traitors.  His  part- 
ing advice  to  Philip  was,  that  every  city  in  the  ISTether- 
lands  should  be  burned  to  the  ground,  except  a  few  which 
could  be  occupied  permanently  by  the  royal  troops.* 

Alva  was  succeeded  by  Don  Louis  de  Kequesens,  Grand 
Commander  of  Castile,  and  late  Governor  of  Milan.  As 
he  had  a  reputation  for  sagacity  and  moderation,  his  ad- 
vent was  looked  upon  as  an  omen  of  better  things.  All 
parties  wished  for  peace,  particularly  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Catholic  subject  provinces,  who  saw  their  prosperity 
rapidly  passing  away.  Pequesens  professed  a  desire  for 
a  pacific  policy,  but  he  was  only  a  puppet  in  the  hands 
of  his  royal  master,  who  demanded  absolute  subjection 
to  the  Church  of  Pome.  As  this  was  now  the  only  point 
in  controversy,  all  overtures  were  useless.     Fortunately 


*  That  Alva  had  not  lost  his  martial  skill  was  shown  seven  years 
after  his  return  to  Spain.  He  then  commanded  an  army  which  con- 
quered the  whole  of  Portugal  in  fifty-four  days,  less  than  one  third 
of  the  time  consumed  in  takiucr  Harlem. 


SIEGE   OF   LEYDEN  213 

for  the  patriots,  the  finances  of  the  Spaniards  were  in  a 
bad  condition.  Taxation  was  at  an  end,  for  even  the 
states  not  in  insurrection  made  but  small  contributions 
to  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The  army  consisted  of  over 
sixty  thousand  men,  all  to  be  supported  from  Spain,  and 
Philip  had  large  enterprises  in  other  quarters  which  al- 
ways kept  him  poor.  With  a  bankrupt  treasury,  and 
his  soldiers  in  frequent  mutiny  for  their  pay,  now  three 
years  overdue,  Kequesens  found  his  position  a  bed  of 
thorns. 

Still  the  war  continued.  On  the  sea  the  patriots  were 
almost  uniformly  victorious.  There  they  were  at  home. 
In  February,  1574,  they  showed  that  they  had  turned 
the  tables  on  land,  by  taking  Middelburg  after  a  brill- 
iant siege.  This  gave  them  the  key  to  the  commerce 
of  the  Scheldt  and  the  command  of  Zeeland.  In  the 
summer  of  the  same  year  occurred  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant events  of  the  war.  It  was  only  the  attempt  to 
take  a  city,  but  that  attempt  led  to  the  foundation  of 
the  famous  University  of  Leyden,  which  was  to  serve 
so  largely  during  the  next  few  years  in  making  Holland 
the  learned  country  of  the  world. 

The  city  of  Leyden  was  situated  in  Middle  Holland, 
a  short  distance  south  of  Harlem.  It  was  fifteen  miles 
from  the  river  Meuse,  on  a  broad  and  beautiful  plain 
which  was  intersected  by  a  number  of  the  branches 
into  which  the  Ehine  was  divided,  as  in  its  weakness  it 
crawled  towards  the  sea.  "Within  the  town  were  broad 
streets,  spacious  squares,  imposing  churches  and  public 
edifices,  with  some  one  hundred  and  forty-five  bridges, 
mostly  of  hammered  stone,  spanning  the  canals  which 
interlaced  the  city.  In  the  centre,  on  an  artificial  emi- 
nence, rose  an  antique  tower,  probably  of  Eoman  origin, 
but  popularly  ascribed  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  Hengist, 


214       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

who  was  said  to  have  built  it  to  commemorate  his  con- 
quest of  Britain. 

When,  in  October,  1573,  the  Spanish  forces  retired 
from  Alkmaar,  they  sat  down  before  Leyden  and  began 
its  siege.  In  March,  they  were  called  away  to  resist 
Louis  of  Nassau,  who  had  finally  raised  another  army, 
and  again  invaded  the  ISTetherlands  from  the  East.  An 
engagement  ensued  in  April,  which  was  followed  by  the 
usual  result ;  the  patriots  being  utterly  cut  to  pieces. 
Among  the  dead  were  Louis  and  his  younger  brother. 
William  of  Orange  had  now  lost  three  of  his  four 
brothers,  and  though  John  remained,  a  gallant,  faithful 
soldier  and  a  zealous  Calvinist,  no  one  could  take  the 
place  in  diplomacy  and  war  of  the  Bayard  of  the  Neth- 
erlands. William  stood  thenceforth  almost  alone  among 
the  nobles. 

In  May,  1574,  the  Spaniards  returned  to  Leyden,  and 
opened  the  siege  anew.  They  numbered  some  eight 
thousand  at  first,  and  received  daily  reinforcements. 
Within  the  city  were  no  soldiers  at  all,  except  a  small 
corps  of  freebooters  and  five  companies  of  the  burgher 
guard.  Yet  the  besiegers  made  no  attempt  to  carry 
the  place  by  storm.  Alkmaar  had  taught  them  a  les- 
son which  they  did  not  soon  forget.  They  now  relied 
solely  on  famine,  which  had  gained  them  Harlem,  and 
here  the  chances  seemed  greatly  in  their  favor.  The 
town  was  known  to  be  insulficiently  provisioned,  while 
the  besieging  force  was  so  great  that  there  was  no 
chance  of  relieving  it  from  without  by  any  ordinary 
means.  As  for  flooding  the  country,  though  it  was  all 
below  the  water-level,  that  seemed  impossible.  The 
main  dikes  were  fifteen  miles  away,  and  between  them 
and  the  city  were  a  number  of  subordinate  ones,  each 
sufficient  to  keep  out  the  watery  foe.     The  latter  were 


CUTTING   THE    DIKES  315 

guarded  from  attack  by  no  less  than  sixty-two  forts  and 
redoubts  which,  held  by  the  Spaniards,  seemed  to  make 
them  safe.  Despite  all  this,  the  Prince  of  Orange  sent 
word  to  the  inhabitants  that  if  they  would  hold  out  for 
three  months  he  would  find  means  for  their  deliverance, 
and  they  believed  him. 

In  June,  Kequesens,  by  order  of  the  king,  issued  a 
proclamation  of  general  amnesty,  over  which  he  had 
been  pondering  long.  It  promised  full  forgiveness  for 
the  past  to  every  one,  except  a  few  individuals  specified 
by  name,  on  the  sole  condition  that  they  would  return 
to  the  bosom  of  Mother  Church.  But  two  persons  in 
the  whole  country  took  advantage  of  this  act  of  grace 
— one  a  brewer  in  Utrecht,  the  other  a  son  of  a  ref- 
ugee peddler  from  Leyden.  This  should  answer  the 
question  as  to  the  character  of  the  war.  The  taxation 
of  Alva  was  but  the  spark  by  which  the  flame  was  kin- 
dled. It  was  devotion  to  religious  liberty  that  supplied 
the  fuel. 

In  July,  the  Prince  of  Orange  began  to  cut  the  outer 
dikes,  believing  that  the  flood  of  water  then  admitted 
would  prove  sufficient  to  drive  out  the  Spaniards.  Here, 
however,  his  calculations  were  at  fault.  The  water  en- 
tered, but  the  inner  barriers  stood  firm.  Then  he  organ- 
ized a  flotilla,  which,  manned  by  the  wild  Beggars  of 
the  Sea,  followed  the  advancing  waves  and  attacked 
the  remaining  dikes  one  by  one.  This  was  a  work  of 
time  and  difficulty,  for  the  Spaniards  were  in  overwhelm- 
ing numbers  and  made  a  stout  resistance.  Still,  little 
by  little  an  advance  was  made.* 


*  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  this  flotilla  there  was  a  vessel  de- 
signed by  the  inventive  Hollanders  which  was  the  forerunner  of  our 
modern  iron-clads.     It  was  a  floating  structure  of  great  size,  called 


216        THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Meantime,  as  the  slow  work  Avent  on,  the  unhappy 
inhabitants  of  the  city  were  reduced  to  dreadful  straits. 
The  three  months  which  were  to  bring  relief  had 
stretched  to  four.  For  two,  they  said,  they  had  lived 
on  food,  but  during  the  other  two  without  it.  Every 
green  thing  within  the  walls  was  consumed ;  infants 
starved  to  death  on  the  bosoms  of  their  famished  moth- 
ers ;  the  watchmen,  as  they  went  about  the  streets,  found 
many  a  house  untenanted,  except  by  withered  corpses. 

Finally  came  the  plague  to  add  its  horrors  to  star- 
vation, and  six  or  eight  thousand  victims  fell  before  its 
breath.  Day  by  day  the  heroic  survivors  clambered  up 
the  Tower  of  Hengist  to  watch  and  pray.  For  weeks 
the  wind  had  been  blowing  from  the  east,  and  unless 
it  changed  relief  was  hopeless.  ]N"othing  but  a  strong 
gale  from  the  ocean,  even  after  all  the  dikes  were  cut, 
would  heap  up  the  waters  so  as  to  flood  the  country. 
Still,  although  a  full  pardon  was  freely  offered  them, 
there  was  little  thought  of  surrender.  To  the  taunts  of 
the  foe  without,  this  response  was  made :  "  Ye  call  us 
rat-eaters  and  dog-eaters,  and  it  is  true.  So  long,  then 
as  ye  hear  dog  bark  or  cat  mew  within  the  walls,  ye 
may  know  that  the  city  holds  out.  And  when  all  has 
perished  but  ourselves,  be  sure  that  we  will  devour  our 
left  arms,  retaining  our  right  to  defend  our  women,  our 
liberty,  and  our  religion,  against  the  foreign  tyrant. 
Should  God  in  his  wrath  doom  us  to  destruction,  and 
deny  us  all  relief,  even  then  will  we  maintain  ourselves 
forever  against  your  entrance.  When  the  last  hour  has 
come,  with  our  own  hands  we  will  set  fire  to  the  city, 
and  perish,  men,  women,  and  children,  together  in  the 


the  "  Ark  of  Delft,"  covered  with    shot-proof  bulwarks,  and  pro- 
pelled by  paddle-wheels  moved  by  a  crank.    Motley,  ii.  567. 


THE    CITY  RELIEVED  217 

flames  rather  than  suffer  our  homes  to  be  polluted  and 
our  liberties  to  be  crushed,"*  What  could  Spain  do 
against  such  a  people  ? 

At  length  deliverance  came.  On  the  1st  of  October 
the  wind  shifted  to  the  west ;  on  the  3d,  the  Spaniards 
had  fled  before  the  flood,  the  fleet  was  at  the  walls,  and 
Lej^den  was  relieved. 

The  first  act  of  this  half-starved  people  tells  much  of 
the  story  of  their  lives.  Forming  at  once  in  solemn 
procession,  they  marched  to  the  church,  and  on  bended 
knee  gave  thanks  to  the  Almighty  God,  whose  wisdom 
they  had  never  doubted.  When,  however,  they  at- 
tempted to  close  the  service  with  a  hymn,  the  strain 
upon  them  was  too  great;  as  the  grand  chorus  swelled, 
the  multitude  wept  like  children.  These  were  the  men 
who,  thirty-five  years  later,  gave  a  home  to  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers.  What  lessons  of  fortitude  and  devotion  the 
English  exiles  must  have  learned  as  they  walked  about 
a  city  sacred  to  the  cause  of  religion,  liberty,  and  learn- 
ing! 

The  next  act  of  this  God-fearing  community  tells  the 
rest  of  their  story.  To  commemorate  the  siege,  and  as 
a  reward  for  the  heroism  of  the  citizens,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  with  the  consent  of  the  Estates  of  the  province, 
founded  the  University  of  Leyden.  Still,  the  figment 
of  allegiance  remained;  the  people  were  only  fighting 
for  their  constitutional  rights,  and  so  were  doing  their 
duty  to  the  sovereign.  Hence  the  charter  of  the  uni- 
versity ran  in  the  name  of  Philip,  who  was  credited 
with  its  foundation,  as  a  reward  to  his  subjects  for  their 
rebellion  against  his  evil  counsellors  and  servants,  "  es- 
pecially in  consideration  of  the  differences  in  religion, 


*  Motley,  ii.  571. 


218       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

and  the  great  burdens  and  hardships  borne  by  the  citi- 
zens of  our  city  of  Leyden  during  the  war  with  such 
faithfuhiess."  Motley  calls  this  "  ponderous  irony,"  but 
the  Hollanders  were  able  lawyers  and  intended  to  buiid 
on  a  legal  basis. 

This  event  marks  an  epoch  in  the  intellectual  history 
of  Holland  and  of  the  world.  We  have  already  seen 
something  of  her  classical  schools,  which  contributed  so 
much  to  the  growth  of  the  Reformation,  and  of  the 
general  education  which  reached  down  even  to  the  peas- 
antry. Still,  she  had  no  prominent  institutions  for  a 
higher  culture.  Before  the  war  they  were  not  neces- 
sary, for  the  University  of  Louvain,  in  Brabant,  was 
very  near,  while  the  sons  of  the  wealthy  who  desired 
better  advantages  could  find  them  in  Paris  or  Italy. 
E"ow  all  that  was  changed.  "When  Alva  arrived  in  the 
IsTetherlands,  the  oldest  son  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  a  student  at  Louvain.  No  one  thought  that  the 
Spaniards  would  make  war  upon  children,  any  more 
than  upon  women,  but  this  was  a  mistake.  The  boy 
was  carried  to  Spain  and  kept  a  prisoner  for  twenty 
years.  The  Hollanders  now  resolved  that  such  a  mis- 
fortune should  not  occur  again,  but  that  their  young 
men  should  have  the  opportunity  for  the  highest  edu- 
cation within  the  guarded  precincts  of  their  own  walled 
towns. 

The  new  university  was  opened  in  1575,  and  from  the 
outset  took  the  highest  rank.  Speaking,  a  few  years  ago, 
of  its  famous  senate  chamber,  Niebuhr  called  it  "the 
most  memorable  room  of  Europe  in  the  history  of  learn- 
ing." The  first  curator  was  John  Yan  der  Does,  who 
had  been  military  commandant  of  the  city  during  the 
siege.  He  was  of  a  distinguished  family,  but  was  still 
more  distinguished  for  his  learning,  his  poetical  genius, 


LEYDEN    UNIVERSITY  FOUNDED  219 

and  his  valor.*  Endowed  with  ample  funds,  the  uni- 
versity largely  owed  its  marked  pre-eminence  to  the  in- 
telligent foresight  and  wise  munificence  of  its  curators. 
They  sought  out  and  obtained  the  most  distinguished 
scholars  of  all  nations,  and  to  this  end  spared  neither 
pains  nor  expense.  Diplomatic  negotiation  and  even 
princely  mediation  were  often  called  in  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  professor.  Hence  it  was  said  that  it  surpassed 
all  the  universities  of  Europe  in  the  number  of  its  schol- 
ars of  renown. 

These  scholars  were  treated  with  princely  honors. 
When  Scaliger  came  from  France,  in  1593,  he  was  con- 
veyed in  a  ship-of-war  sent  for  the  special  purpose.  His 
successor,  Salmasius,  also  a  Frenchman,  upon  visiting  his 
native  land,  went  in  a  frigate,  escorted  by  the  whole 
Dutch  fleet  to  Dieppe.  When  he  visited  Sweden  and 
Denmark,  royal  escorts  accompanied  him  from  the  bor- 
ders of  one  country  to  another.f    The  "mechanicals"  of 


*  Davies's  "  Holland,"  li.  15  ;  Motley,  ii.  553. 

t  See  article  on  "  Leiden  University,"  by  Prof.  "W.  T.  Hewett,  of 
Cornell  University,  in  nmyefs  Magazine  for  March,  1881,  to  which  I 
am  much  indebted.  Prof.  Hewett,  himself  a  student  at  this  famous 
university,  in  common  with  every  intelligent  observer  who  has  lived 
in  Holland,  was  much  struck  with  the  similarity  between  the  Dutch 
and  the  American  modes  of  thought.  He  says:  "The  Dutch  mind 
is  more  like  the  American  in  its  method  of  thought  than  is  that  of 
any  other  nation  of  the  Continent.  There  is  the  same  intensity  of 
feeling  on  all  religious  questions,  the  same  keen,  practical  genius 
An  invisible  line  separates  Holland  from  Germany.  The  purpose  of 
the  Hollander  is  direct.  The  Hollander  understands  America  and 
republican  institutions,  and  their  true  foundations  in  the  intelligence 
and  self-control  of  the  people.  I  always  felt  sure  of  being  under- 
stood when  speaking  with  an  educated  Hollander,  whether  discuss- 
ing Church  and  State  or  our  current  political  questions.  He  could 
rightlv  estimate  the  real  and  unreal  dangers  which  attend  demo- 


220         THE  PUEITAN  IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

Holland,  as  Elizabeth  called  them,  may  not  have  paid  the 
accustomed  worship  to  rank,  but  to  genius  and  learning 
they  were  always  wilhng  to  do  homage. 

Space  would  fail  for  even  a  brief  account  of  the  great 
men,  foreign  and  native,  who  illuminated  Leyden  with 
their  presence.  I  have  spoken  of  the  younger  Scaliger, 
the  professor  of  belles-lettres,  whom  Hallam  calls  "  the 
most  extraordinary  master  of  general  erudition  that  ever 
lived,"  and  of  whom  Niebuhr  says :  "  Scaliger  stood  on 
the  topmost  point  of  linguistic  learning,  and  so  high  in 
science  of  all  kinds  that  he  was  able  of  himself  to  ac- 
quire, use,  and  judge  all  therein."  Of  his  successor  Sal- 
masius  it  was  said  "that  what  he  did  not  know  was 
beyond  the  bounds  of  human  knowledge."  "^  Hugo 
Grotius,  when  a  boy  of  eleven,  came  to  study  at  Leyden. 
At  seventeen,  Henry  lY.  of  France  presented  him  to  his 
sister  at  Yersailles,  with  the  words,  "  Behold  the  miracle 
of  Holland."  Later  on,  Grotius  became  famous  as  a 
jurist,  diplomatist,  theologian,  philologist,  and  historian, 
while  in  international  law  he  stands  not  only  as  the 
founder,  but  as  still  the  acknowledged  head.f 

In  a  shaded  retreat  near  the  city,  later  on,  dwelt  Des- 


cratic  governments,  as  our  English  cousins  are  not  always  iu  the 
habit  of  doing." 

*  These  expressions  seem  extravagant,  but  the  acquisitions  oi  the 
scholars  of  that  clay  were  as  phenomenal  as  the  achievements  of  men 
like  Michael  Angelo,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  others,  who  were  sculp- 
tors, painters,  architects,  engineers,  poets,  and  musicians,  all  at  the 
same  time,  and  pre-eminent  in  each  department.  The  range  of 
knowledge  was,  of  course,  much  narrower  than  at  present,  and  per- 
haps bodies  and  brains  were  more  robust. 

t  "  It  is  acknowledged  by  every  one  that  the  publication  of  this 
treatise — on  the  Law  of  War  and  Peace — made  an  epoch  in  the  j)hil- 
osophical,  and  almost  we  might  say  in  the  political,  history  of  Eu- 
rope."— Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  iii.  223. 


FAMOUS  SCHOLARS  OF  LEYDEN  '221 

cartes,  the  "  founder  of  the  modern  mechanical  philoso- 
phy," who  was  discovered  by  the  Hollanders  ;*  and  sub- 
sequently Spinoza,  a  Jew  of  Amsterdam,  the  most  per- 
fect character  and  the  greatest  philosopher,  as  many 
think,  of  modern  times.  The  famous  Justus  Lipsius  filled 
the  chair  of  history  in  the  university.  John  Drusius,  for 
whom  Oxford  and  Cambridge  contended  as  an  Oriental- 
ist, Avas  for  years  in  its  faculty ;  Gomar  and  Arminius, 
names  familiar  to  every  theologian,  taught  theology ; 
the  celebrated  geographer  Cluverius,  who  spoke  ten  lan- 
guages, and  whose  geography  went  through  twenty-six 
editions,  was  one  of  the  professors ;  among  others  was 
Peter  Paaw,  who  founded  the  botanical  garden  of  Ley- 
den,  and  whose  treatises  on  physics,  anatomy,  and  botany 
still  maintain  their  place  in  the  best  libraries.f  When  it 
was  finally  determined  that  France  was  to  become  Cath- 
olic, the  seat  of  learning  was  transferred  from  Paris  to 
Leyden.  Then  began  the  first  scientific  study  of  Greek, 
under  Hemsterhuys.  Under  Boerhaave,  Albinus,  and 
Sylvius,  its  medical  school  became  the  most  famous  in 
Europe. :]: 

These  were  among  the  men  whose  influence  made  Hol- 
land through  the  seventeenth  century  the  peculiarly 
learned,  as  it  was  pre-eminently  the  literary,  country  of 


*Whe'well.  Descartes  was  also  "the  genuine  author  of  the  me- 
cbauical  theory  of  the  rainbow." — Idem. 

t  "Three  Centuries  of  Congregationalism,"  Dexter,  p.  384. 

I  Boerhaave  was  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  physician  that  ever 
lived,  if  we  except  Hippocrates.  Thompson's  "  History  of  Chemis- 
try," i.  209.  He  was  great  as  a  botanist  and  chemist  as  well  as  a  physi- 
cian. The  Czar  Peter  once  waited  two  hours  for  an  interview  with 
him.  A  Chinese  mandarin  addressed  a  letter  "To  the  illustrious 
Boerhaave,  physician  in  Europe,"  which  duly  reached  its  destina- 
tion. 


222         THE  PURITAN  IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  and  for  many 
years  afterwards."'^  In  1586,  a  century  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  IS'ewton's  "  Principia,"  Stevinus,  engineer  to 
Prince  Maurice,  and  inspector  of  the  dikes  of  Holland, 
published  his  "  Principles  of  Equilibrium,"  which  founded 
the  science  of  statics,  f  He  also  introduced  the  use  of 
decimal  fractions,  and  predicted  the  adoption  of  a  deci- 
mal coinage,  weights,  and  measures. :{:  In  1609,  Holland 
gave  to  the  world  the  telescope,  which  made  a  new 
science  of  astronomy. § 

By  the  invention  of  the  microscope,  which  was  also 
made  in  Holland  prior  to  1620,  ||  the  science  of  the  infi- 
nitely large  was  supplemented  by  that  of  the  infinitely 
small.  In  1630,  Cornelius  Drebbel,  a  Hollander,  who 
exhibited  the  first  microscope  in  England,  invented  the 
thermometer,  by  which  for  the  first  time  variations  of 
temperature  were  accurately  measured.  Leeuwenhoeck, 
to  whom  modern  authorities  give  the  honor  of  inventing 


*  See  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  Europe,"  iii.  279 ;  iv.  59. 

t  "  The  formation  of  the  science  of  statics  was  finished  ;  the  math- 
ematical development  and  exposition  of  it  were  alone  open  to  exten- 
sion and  change."  "  By  the  discoveries  of  Stevinus  all  problems  of 
equilibrium  were  substantially  solved." — Whewell,  "  History  of  the 
Inductive  Sciences,"  i.  351 ;  ii.  15,  16,  40,  68. 

I  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  article  "  Stevinus." 

§  "  The  real  inventor  of  the  telescope  is  not  certainly  known. 
Metius  of  Alkmaar  long  enjoyed  the  honor,  but  the  best  claim  seems 
to  be  that  of  Zachary  Jens  or  Jansens,  a  dealer  in  spectacles  at  Mid- 
delburg.  The  date  of  the  invention,  or  at  least  of  its  publicity,  is 
referred  beyond  dispute  to  1609.  The  news  spread  rapidly  througli 
Europe,  reaching  Galileo,  who,  in  the  same  year,  constructed  by  his 
own  sagacity  the  iustrument  which  he  exhibited  at  Venice." — Hal- 
lam,  iv.  27.  Motley  says  that  Jansens  invented  both  the  telescope 
and  microscope  in  1590.     "  United  Netherlands,"  iv.  570. 

I  Hallam,  iv.  27. 


SCIENTIFIC    DISCOVERIES   AND   INVENTIONS  223 

the  microscope,  which  Drebbel  exhibited,*  was  the  first 
of  biologists  to  discover  the  capillary  circulation  of  the 
blood.  Snellius,  mathematical  professor  at  Leyden,  in- 
troduced the  true  method  of  measuring  the  degrees  of 
latitude  and  longitude.f  In  1656,  Christian  Huyghens, 
also  of  Holland,  invented  the  pendulum  clock.  "  This," 
says  Whewell,  "  was  the  beginning  of  anything  which 
we  can  call  accuracy  in  time."  He  also  first  applied  the 
micrometer  to  the  telescope,  and  was  the  author  of  the 
undulatory  theory  of  light,  which  Newton  opposed.:]: 
With  these  instruments,  invented  by  the  Hollanders, 
almost  the  whole  field  of  science  was  opened  up  to  the 
inquirer.§ 

But  it  was  not  alone  in  scholarship  and  in  scientific 
research  that  the  University  of  Leyden  gave  an  impetus 
to  modern  thought.  Theological  disputes  Avere  devel- 
oped there  at  times,  httle  tempests  which  threatened 
destruction  to  the  institution,  but  they  were  of  short 


*  See  "  Eucyclop£edia  Britannica,"  article  "  Microscope." 

t  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  iv.  571. 

X  Whewell,  ii.  267,  269,  392. 

§  In  1630,  Varenius,  a  physician  of  Amsterdam,  who  had  studied 
at  Leyden,  gave  to  the  world  his  great  work  on  physical  geography. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  used  it  as  a  text-book,  caused  it  to  be  translated 
into  English,  and  it  retained  its  place  as  the  leading  authority  for  a 
century  and  a  half.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  Varenius  advo- 
cated the  construction  of  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  hold- 
ino",  two  centuries  before  De  Lesseps,  that  there  was  no  inequality  of 
level  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Indian  Ocean  which  would 
render  it  impracticable.  See  "  Annual  Address  before  the  American 
Geographical  Society,"  by  Charles  P.  Daly,  Jan.  14th,  1890,  pp.  44-52. 
Leyden  was  almost  the  only  place  upon  the  Continent  where  New- 
ton's great  discovery  was  accepted  and  taught,  until  it  was  popular- 
ized by  Voltaire  in  1728.  Lecky's  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury," i.  65. 


224       TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

duration.  The  right  of  conscience  was  always  respected, 
and  in  the  main  the  right  of  full  and  pubKc  discussion. 
According  to  Hallam,*  it  was  from.  Leyden,  perliaps  a 
little  from  Racow,  tliat  the  "  immortal  Chilling  worth  " 
and  the  "ever -memorable  John  Hales"  borrowed  "a 
tone  of  thinking  upon  some  doctrinal  points  as  yet 
nearly  unknown,  and  therefore  highly  obnoxious  in  Eng- 
land." The  tolerance  of  Leyden,  however,  like  its  learn- 
ing and  science,  took  root  in  England  very  slowly,  for 
these  two  remarkable  lights  of  the  Church,  "  who  dwelt 
apart  like  stars,"  did  not  appear  upon  the  horizon  until 
the  reign  of  Charles  I. ;  but  the  liberality  and  tolerance 
which  they  proclaimed  have  in  tlie  end  borne  abundant 
fruit.f  When  it  was  settled  that  dissenters  could  not 
be  educated  in  the  English  universities,  they  flocked  to 
Leyden  in  great  numbers,  making  that  city,  next  to 
Edinburgh,  their  chief  resort.:]: 

Eleven  years  after  the  opening  of  the  University  of 
Leyden,  the  Estates  of  democratic  Friesland,  amid  the 
din  of  war,  founded  the  University  of  Franeker,  an  in- 
stitution which,  considering  the  poverty  and  isolation 
of  Friesland,  was  as  remarkable  in  its  establishment  as 

*  "  Const,  ffist.,"  ii.  79. 

t  Chillingworth  advocated  "  the  iudependency  of  private  opinion." 
"This  endeavor  to  mitigate  the  dread  of  forming  mistaken  judg- 
ments in  religion  runs  through  the  whole  work  of  Chillingworth, 
and  marks  him  as  the  founder,  in  this  country,  of  what  has  been 
called  the  latitudina^ian  school  of  theology." — Hallam,  ii.  78.  Hales 
was  "even  more  hardy  than  his  friend,"  p.  79. 

I  In  the  eighteenth  century  nearly  two  thousand  British  students 
were  educated  at  Leyden.  Steven, "  Hist,  of  the  Scottish  Church  at 
Rotterdam,"  p.  266.  Among  these  students  was  the  famous  John 
Wilkes,  who,  with  all  his  excesses,  contributed  so  much  to  the  cause 
of  English  liberty.  Lecky's  "England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century," 
iii.  78. 


DISPOSITION  OF  CONFISCATED  CnUUCII  PKOPERTY  235 

its  predecessor  in  the  wealthier  state  of  Holland.  As 
at  Leyden,  the  instruction  was  substantially  free,  for 
the  professors  were  paid  handsome  salaries  from  an  en- 
dowment by  the  State.  In  addition,  provision  was  made 
for  boarding  the  poorer  scholars,  so  that  they  could  ob- 
tain a  full  collegiate  education  at  an  annual  expense  of 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  dollars.  The  pupils  were 
instructed  in  theology,  jurisprudence,  medicine,  philoso- 
phy, rhetoric,  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin. - 

Both  of  these  universities  were  perpetually  endowed 
with  the  proceeds  of  the  ecclesiastical  property  which 
had  been  confiscated  during  the  progress  of  the  Avar. 
In  the  Netherlands,  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  the 
Church  of  Rome  held  vast  estates,  amounting,  as  it  has 
been  estimated,  to  one  fifth  of  the  entire  property  of 
the  country.  "What  was  done  with  this  property  in 
England  is  known  to  every  reader.  When  Henry  VIII. 
carried  out  his  reformation,  the  monasteries  and  con- 
vents being  suppressed,  their  confiscated  estates  became 
part  of  the  royal  demesnes,  or  w^ere  handed  over  to 
greedy  courtiers.  The  Hollanders  believed  in  no  such 
system  of  spoliation  as  this.  When  th-ey  established 
their  reformation,  they,  too,  stripped  the  Church  of  its 
superabundant  and  ill-used  wealth.  But  the  ecclesias- 
tical property  went  neither  into  private  coffers  nor  even 
into  the  general  treasury  for  secular  purposes.  How- 
ever misappropriated  by  Eome,  it  had  been  originally 
intended  for  pious  uses,  and  to  such  it  was  returned.  A 
portion  was  set  aside  for  purposes  of  education ;  the  rest 
went  to  the  support  of  the  clergy,  and  to  endow  the 
charitable  institutions  for  which  Holland  always  had 
been,  and  was  to  become  still  more,  famous. 


Davies,  ii.  203 ;  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  ii.  8,  9. 
I.— 15 


226       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Guicciardini,  writing  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  tells  how,  even  at  that  time,  these  people  led 
the  world  in  caring  for  the  decrepit  and  unfortunate. 
Hospitals  provided  with  every  convenience  were  always 
open  to  the  sick  and  aged.  Besides  these  were  estab- 
lishments, like  our  modern  retreats,  in  which  old  per- 
sons, by  the  payment  of  a  certain  sum,  secured  homes 
for  themselves  during  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  In 
each  town  persons  of  wealth  and  respectability  were  bi- 
ennially appointed  to  receive  alms  in  the  churches  and 
principal  places  of  resort,  and  to  administer  such  funds 
in  their  discretion,  to  which  were  added  the  proceeds  of 
a  small  tax  and  the  bequests  of  the  charitable.  Under 
their  direction  the  poor  were  so  well  cared  for  that  they 
were  under  no  necessity  to  beg,  which,  in  fact,  they  were 
not  allowed  to  do  except  during  stated  hours  on  saints' 
days  or  holidays.  The  children  of  such  as  were  unable 
to  support  them  were  brought  up  until  a  certain  age  at 
the  expense  of  the  State,  and  then  bound  out  as  appren- 
tices to  some  trade  or  manufacture.  In  times  of  scarcity, 
the  authorities  of  the  town  distributed  food  among  the 
needy,  whether  native  or  foreign  born.  The  people  were 
so  honest,  industrious,  and  frugal  that,  except  on  such 
occasions,  there  were  few  requiring  alms  save  the  sick, 
maimed,  and  aged.* 

As  the  long  and  bloody  war  with  Spain  went  on,  it 
left  behind  it  a  vast  number  of  widows  and  orphans, 
besides  the  disabled  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  form  the 
saddest  mementos  of  such  a  struggle.  These  the  re- 
public never  forgot  or  neglected.  With  the  proceeds 
of  the  confiscated  property  of  the  Church,  that  Church 


*  Guicciardini,  "  Belg.  Des.,"  i.  179 ;  Davies's  "  Holland,"  i.  489 ; 
Sir  William  Temple,  i.  121-160, 191. 


CHARITABLE    INSTITUTIONS  227 

which  had  now  become  the  pubHc  enemy,  were  founded, 
in  every  town,  asylums  and  hospitals  which  cared  for 
such  unfortunates.  In  these  institutions,  admirably  or- 
ganized, equipped  with  every  comfort,  and  administered 
with  wisdom  and  economy,  the  orphans  were  educated, 
and  the  widows  and  battered  veterans  of  the  war  spent 
their  declining  years  in  ease.*  When  Louis  XIY.  and 
Charles  II.  formed  their  unholy  league  for  the  conquest 
of  the  Dutch  Republic,  one  monarch  writes  to  the  other, 
"  Have  no  fear  for  Amsterdam ;  I  have  the  firm  hope 
that  Providence  will  save  her,  if  it  were  only  in  consid- 
eration of  her  charity  towards  the  poor."  We  now  can 
understand  what  the  people  of  the  cities  which  revolted 
from  Spain  had  in  view  when  they  took  an  oath  from 
their  new  magistrates  "  to  protect  widows,  orphans,  and 
miserable  persons."  f 

When  we  consider  that  at  this  time  England  was  over- 
run with  hordes  of  sturdy  beggars,  and  that  her  soldiers 
and  sailors  were  allowed  to  die  neglected  in  the  streets, 
one  need  hardly  ask  from  which  country  America  and 
the  world  at  large  have  derived  their  ideas  upon  these 
subjects.  We  view  with  just  pride  our  soldiers'  homes, 
our.  orphan  asylums,  and  hospitals  for  the  sick  and 
wounded,  but  should  not  forget  that  in  all  this  noble 
work  republican  Holland  set  us  an  example  three  centu- 
ries ago. 


*  See  the  reports  of  the  Italians,  Contarini  and  Douato,  cited  in 
Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  iv.  558. 
t  See  p.  197o 


CHAPTER  IV 

REVOLUTION  IN  THE   NETHERLANDS 

INDEPENDENCE    DECLAEED ASSASSINATION   OF   WILLIAM    OF 

OEANGi: — EELIGIOUS    TOLERATION  ESTABLISHED 1574-1585 

Foe  some  two  years  after  the  unsuccessful  siege  of 
Leyden,  but  little  of  importance  occurred  in  the  field, 
where  the  war  was  dragging  its  slow  length  along. 
^Negotiations  were  constantly  going  on  for  peace ;  but  as 
one  party  demanded  full  religious  liberty,  and  the  other 
the  absolute  domination  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  no 
basis  of  agreement  could  be  reached. 

Still,  though  the  insurgent  provinces  would  not  yield, 
their  position  was  very  perilous.  Holland  was  cut  in 
two  by  the  capture  of  Harlem,  and  Amsterdam  still 
held  out  for  Spain.  France,  Germany,  and  England  re- 
fused all  aid,  and  the  patriots  saw  nothing  before  them 
but  the  prospect  of  slow  extermination.  If  need  be, 
they  said,  they  could  "  die  in  the  last  ditch ;"  but  no 
men  long  for  such  a  fate.  At  length,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  seeing  no  other  resource,  and  being  threatened 
with  war  by  Elizabeth  and  Protestant  England,  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  an  heroic  step  for  the  salvation  of 
his  people,  although  it  involved  the  loss  of  their  native 
land.  The  country,  which  their  fathers  had  rescued 
from  the  waves,  Avas  to  be  given  up ;  the  accumulated 
wealth  of  centuries  abandoned ;  and  the  nation,  with  its 


THE  "SPANISH   FURY,"  AND   ITS    EESULTS  329 

religion  and  its  liberty,  was  to  seek  a  new  home  beyond 
the  sea. 

At  this  juncture  Requesens  met  with  a  sudden  death, 
leaving  the  arm}?-  without  a  leader  and  the  government 
without  a  head. 

The  death  of  Requesens  was  followed  by  results  which 
changed  the  fate  of  Holland.  For  years  the  Spanish 
troops  had  been  unpaid.  They  now  rose  in  mutiny  and 
wreaked  their  long-pent  fury  upon  the  peaceful  cities  of 
the  lower  ]N"etherlands.  In  November,  15T6,  Antwerp, 
the  commercial  capital  of  the  world,  was  sacked,  as  if  it 
had  been  taken  by  assault.  Eight  thousand  of  its  inhab- 
itants were  murdered,  five  hundred  palaces  were  left  in 
ruins,  and  twelve  millions  of  property  destroyed  or  car- 
ried off.  In  this  massacre — called  the  "  Spanish  Fury  " 
—  no  distinction  was  made  on  the  score  of  religion; 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  layman  and  prelate,  being  alike 
murdered  and  plundered  by  the  Spanish  soldiery  who 
had  come  into  the  land  to  put  down  heresy.  The  de- 
struction of  Antwerp,  and  the  slaughter  of  some  twelve 
thousand  peaceful  citizens  in  other  towns,  brought  about 
Avhat  was  called  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  a  consolida- 
tion of  all  the  provinces  to  effect  the  expulsion  of  the 
foreign  troops,  and  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  privi- 
leges of  the  people.  The  union  was  only  temporary,  for 
the  inhabitants  of  the  southern  states,  most  of  whom 
were  Catholics,  soon  returned  to  their  old  allegiance; 
but  the  interval  gave  the  patriots  of  the  ISTorth  a  much- 
needed  breathing-spell.  How  they  improved  it  we  shall 
shortly  see. 

Late  in  1576,  Don  John  of  Austria,  half-brother  of 
the  King  of  Spain,  the  hero  of  Lepanto,  a  man  whose 
life  had  been  one  romance,  and  who  now  at  the  age  of 
thirty-one  was  accounted  the  foremost  soldier  of  the 


230       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

world,  came  to  the  JN^etherlands  as  successor  to  Eeque- 
sens.  He  found  a  people  inflexibly  bent  on  the  removal 
of  the  Spanish  troops.  Before  this  demand  he  at  last 
reluctantly  gave  way,  and  to  the  number  of  ten  thou- 
sand they  took  up  their  march  for  Italy.  The  joy  expe- 
rienced by  the  people  at  this  triumph  was,  however, 
destined  to  a  short  life.  It  soon  became  apparent  that 
the  ideas  of  the  new  governor-general  were  no  more  lib- 
eral than  were  those  of  his  hated  predecessors.  At  the 
end  of  the  first  year  of  his  rule  the  whole  country  again 
rose  in  revolt,  the  Estates-General  declared  Don  John 
a  public  enemy,  and  a  new  act  of  union  was  signed 
between  the  provinces,  by  which,  providing  for  the 
common  defence,  they  also  guaranteed  mutual  religious 
toleration.  This  was  the  last  attempt  to  bind  all  the 
states  together.  It  failed  in  the  end,  largely  through 
the  jealousy  of  the  Catholic  nobles,  who  disliked  and 
feared  "Father  William,"  the  idol  of  the  people.  An 
army  of  some  twenty  thousand  men,  among  whom  were 
thirteen  companies  of  Scotch  and  English  volunteers, 
met  in  the  field  an  equal  force  under  Don  John,  and 
was  almost  utterly  annihilated,  as  usual,  with  a  Spanish 
loss  of  only  ten  or  eleven. 

Meeting  such  a  crushing  defeat  at  the  outset,  the 
future  would  have  looked  very  dark  for  the  new  Con- 
federacy but  that  some  other  events  gave  signs  of  prom- 
ise. In  the  first  place,  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  confusion  which  followed  the  death  of 
Requesens  to  gain  the  cities  in  Zeeland  which  had  stood 
out  for  Spain.  Then  Harlem  and  Amsterdam  were  re- 
covered by  an  uprising  of  the  people,  so  that  two  states 
were  entirely  freed  from  the  foreign  yoke.  With  these 
successes  the  other  northern  provinces  fell  into  line, 
never  thereafter  to  be  separated. 


DON   JOHN    OF   AUSTRIA— HIS   DESIGNS   ON   ENGLAND  231 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  hero  of  Lepanto  had  come  to 
the  IsTetherlands  Avith  a  scheme  which  was  to  be  the 
crowning  achievement  of  his  romantic  life.  He  exjDect^ 
ed  by  making  generous  concessions  to  secure  a  speedy 
peace,  and  then  to  cross  over  to  England  with  his  army 
of  veterans,  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Catholics, 
release  and  marry  Mary  of  Scotland — now  nine  years  a 
prisoner  —  drive  out  Elizabeth,  and  take  possession  of 
the  English  throne.  The  project  had  the  approval  of 
the  pope,  and  might  have  been  successfully  carried  out 
but  for  the  action  of  the  ISTetherlanders  which  forced 
the  immediate  dismissal  of  the  Spanish  troops.*  Still, 
its  effect  was  not  lost  upon  Elizabeth.  Slowly  she  was 
reaching  the  conviction  that  for  her  own  security  she 
must  aid  the  rebels  across  the  Channel.  Her  counsel- 
lors, one  and  all,  were  of  opinion  that  she  should  gener- 
ously espouse  their  cause ;  but  this  was  impossible  for 
a  woman  of  her  nature.  Finally,  however,  in  1578, 
she  loaned  them,  on  good  security,  a  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  and  furnished  them  with  five  thousand  soldiers, 
to  be  supported  at  their  cost.  With  this  they  had  to  be 
content,  t 

In  France  the  outlook  was  much  brighter.  As  soon 
as  the  court  recovered  from  its  first  excitement,  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  seen  to  have  been  a 
blunder.  Spain  was  the  leading  Catholic  power  of  Eu- 
rope, and  as  her  ally  France  would  have  to  take  a  sub- 
ordinate position,  Avhile  as  a  neutral  or  a  secret  enemy 
she  could  be  first  in  influence.  This  consideration  had 
led  to  a  religious  peace,  in  1573,  by  which  the  Hugue- 


*  Creighton's  "Age  of  Elizabeth,"  p.  151. 

t  Motley's  "Dutch  Republic,"  iii.  300,  338,  343.     See  as  to  her 
tortuous  methods,  Froude,  xi.  127,  etc. 


233        TUB    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

nots  were  given  possession  of  La  Eochelle  and  three 
other  important  towns.  In  1574,  Charles  IX.,  haunted 
ever  by  the  spectre  of  his  murdered  subjects,  and  with 
their  shrieks  and  groans  ringing  in  his  ears,  sank  into 
the  grave  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother.  The  new 
monarch,  Henry  III.,  was  a  behever  in  the  pohcy  of 
opposition  to  the  growing  power  of  Spain.  After  long 
negotiations,  his  younger  brother,  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
offered  the  states  his  services,  with  those  of  ten  thou- 
sand troops.  In  August,  1578,  they  were  accepted,  and 
he  was  declared  "  Defender  of  the  liberty  of  the  ISTeth- 
erlands  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards  and  their 
adherents." 

Tlie  French  troops  were  valuable  allies,  and  if  the 
patriots  had  not  been  impoverished  something  might 
have  been  done  against  Don  John.  That  unfortunate 
commander  was,  however,  almost  as  badly  off  as  they. 
Philip  had  at  first  supplied  him  with  money,  but  for 
months  past  had  exhibited  his  usual  parsimony  and  pro- 
crastination. In  fact,  the  king  seemed  jealous  of  his 
soldier  brother,  and  was  desirous  not  only  that  he  should 
not  succeed  in  any  of  his  ambitious  plans,  but  that  he 
should  not  live  to  vex  him  with  his  martial  glory.  He 
had  both  his  wishes.  The  invasion  of  England  became 
impossible  through  the  resistance  of  the  Netherland- 
ers ;  without  money  for  his  troops,  all  other  operations 
were  suspended,  and  in  October,  1578,  death  (which 
was,  as  usual,  attributed  to  poison)  closed  the  career 
of  the  warrior  whose  sun  had  risen  in  such  a  blaze  of 
splendor. 

The  air  of  the  ISTetherlands  had  proved  unwholesome 
to  the  last  two  governors.  They  were  now  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  a  man  whose  rule  was  longer,  and  whose 
influence  was  to  be  more  powerful  for  evil.     Alexander 


WRITTEN   CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   REPUBLIC  233 

of  Parma  was  an  Italian,  a  son  of  the  trusted  lieutenant 
of  Charles  Y.  by  Margaret,  his  natural  daughter,  Philip's 
first  regent  of  the  Netherlands.  He  was  a  soldier  only 
second  in  reputation  to  Don  John,  and  was  to  make 
for  himself  a  reputation  even  more  brilliant.  In  ad- 
dition, he  had  qualities  possessed  by  none  of  his  pred- 
ecessors, for  he  had  all  of  the  Italian's  subtlety,  skill 
in  intrigue,  and  diplomatic  cunning,  with  an  absolutely 
unselfish  devotion  to  his  master.  In  the  field  he  never 
lost  his  head ;  in  negotiations  he  never  lost  his  patience. 
He  pushed  the  war  with  vigor,  but  believed  that  it  was 
cheaper  to  buy  men  than  to  conquer  them  with  force. 
Unfortunately  for  the  patriots,  he  had  to  deal  in  the 
southern  provinces  with  a  class  of  nobles  who  had  no 
religious  convictions  and  were  eaten  up  with  jealousy  of 
the  man  whose  lofty  patriotism  they  could  never  com- 
prehend. Working  upon  these  feelings  and  by  the  lav- 
ish use  of  money,  Parma,  before  he  had  been  six  months 
in  the  country,  won  back  the  five  lower  Walloon  states 
and  attached  them  again  to  Spain. 

At  about  the  same  time,  in  15Y9,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
effected  a  formal  union  of  the  seven  northern  Protestant 
provinces,  binding  them  together  by  what  is  known  as 
the  Treaty,  or  Union,  of  Utrecht.  This  famous  docu- 
ment, although  at  first  not  so  intended,  was  the  written 
Constitution  of  the  ISTetherland  Republic. 

By  its  provisions  the  contracting  parties  agreed  to 
remain  forever  united  as  if  they  were  one  province. 
Each  state  was,  however,  to  manage  its  own  internal 
affairs,  and  preserve  all  its  ancient  liberties.  Questions 
of  war  and  peace,  and  those  relating  to  the  imposition 
of  duties,  were  to  be  decided  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  all 
the  states ;  in  other  matters  the  majority  were  to  decide, 
A  common  currency  was  to  be  established.    And,  finally, 


234       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

no  city  or  province  was  to  interfere  with  another  in  the 
matter  of  religion.* 

Up  to  this  time  the  fiction  had  been  retained  that  tlie 
rebelhous  provinces  were  subject  to  Phihp,  and  were 
carrying  on  a  war  against  him  strictly  within  the  lines 
of  their  respective  charters  or  constitutions.  But,  in 
1581,  two  years  after  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  all  this  came 
to  an  end.  Of  the  seventeen  provinces  five  had  returned 
to  their  allegiance.  The  other  twelve,  seven  of  which 
had  united  together  to  act  as  one,  were  still  in  open 
arms.  For  years  they  had  tried  by  negotiations  to  se- 
cure the  ancient  rights  which  Phihp  had  sworn  to  main- 
tain when  he  assumed  the  throne.  At  last,  even  the 
most  hopeful  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  all  efforts 
for  peace  were  useless,  and  that  but  one  resource  re- 
mained— to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  th^ir  Spanish  ruler 
by  declaring  their  independence,  and,  if  need  be,  seek- 
ing a  new  sovereign  in  other  quarters.  To  accomplish 
the  first  of  these  objects,  representatives  from  all  the 
twelve  states  met  at  The  Hague,  and,  on  the  26th  of 
July,  1581,  solemnly  declared  their  independence  of 
Philip,  and  renounced  their  allegiance  forever. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  then  put  forth  is 
one  of  the  most  important  documents  in  history.  A 
translation  of  it  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Lord 
Somers  and  is  published  in  his  "Tracts."  That  great 
statesman  used  it  as  a  model  for  the  famous  Declaration 
of  Eights  by  which  England,  a  century  later,  proclaimed 
the  abdication  of  James  II.,  and  the  selection  of  the 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange  to  fill  the  vacant  throne. 
Again,  after  another  century,  it  furnished  the  model  for 
the  still  more  celebrated  Declaration  by  which  the  thir- 


*  Motley,  iii.  413. 


DECLARATION    OP   INDEPENDENCE  235 

teen  American  colonies  announced  their  independence 
of  Great  Britain. 

It  began,  "  All  mankind  know  that  a  prince  is  ap- 
pointed by  God  to  cherish  his  subjects,  even  as  a  shep- 
herd to  guard  his  sheep.  When,  therefore,  the  prince 
does  not  fulfil  his  duty  as  protector ;  when  he  op- 
presses his  subjects,  destroys  their  ancient  liberties,  and 
treats  them  as  slaves,  he  is  to  be  considered  not  a  prince, 
but  a  tyrant.  As  such,  the  estates  of  the  land  may  law- 
full}'-  and  reasonably  depose  him,  and  elect  another  in 
his  room."  Then  followed  a  long  recital  of  the  grievous 
wrongs  which  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  had  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  Philip ;  the  establishment  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, the  trampling  on  their  guaranteed  rights  and  privi- 
leges, the  murders  and  massacres  of  tlie  last  quarter  of 
a  century,  which  they  said  justified  them  in  forsaking 
a  sovereign  who  had  forsaken  them.  Obeying  the  law 
of  nature,  desirous  of  maintaining  the  rights,  charters^ 
and  liberties  of  their  fatherland,  determined  to  escape 
from  slavery  to  the  Spaniards,  and  making  known 
their  decision  to  the  world,  they  declared  the  King  of 
Spain  deposed  from  his  sovereignty,  and  proclaimed  that 
they  should  recognize  thenceforth  neither  his  title  nor 
jurisdiction.* 

Thus  the  dominion  of  Philip  was  abjured,  but  this  did 
not  mean  the  establishment  of  a  republic.  Such  a  scheme 
was  not  considered  practicable,  for  the  provinces  thought 
themselves  too  weak  to  cope  single-handed  with  the 
power  of  Spain.  The  renunciation  of  their  allegiance 
was  but  the  preliminary  step  to  a  new  connection  on 
which  great  hopes  were  founded.     The  Duke  of  Anjou 


*  Lord  Somers's  "  Tracts."     See  as  to  the  novelty  and  great  im- 
portance of  this  Declaration,  Rogers's  "  Story  of  Holland,"  p.  107. 


236       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

was  at  this  time  engaged  in  the  last  scene  of  his  mem- 
orable courtship  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  She  had  promised 
to  marry  him,  and  as  her  consort  he  could  bring  to  the 
aid  of  the  insurgents  all  the  resources  of  Protestant 
England,  while  he  would  also  have  the  moral  support  of 
France.  With  such  prospects  before  him,  although  he 
had  accomplished  little  as  defender  of  their  liberties, 
ten  of  the  rebellious  provinces  now  chose  him  as  their 
sovereign.  The  other  two,  however,  Holland  and  Zee- 
land,  refused  to  unite  in  this  action.  They  insisted 
that  no  one  should  rule  over  them  except  their  beloved 
Prince  of  Orange.  Being  without  personal  ambition  in 
the  matter,  and  believing  that  under  the  circumstances 
the  election  of  Anjou  would  be  advantageous  to  the 
country,  the  Prince  of  Orange  tried  to  reject  the  prof- 
fered honor,  but  his  people  would  take  no  refusal,  and 
he  finally  gave  way. 

The  wooing  of  Elizabeth  by  Anjou  forms,  in  some  of 
its  features,  one  of  the  most  comical  incidents  in  English 
history.  The  "  Yirgin  Queen,"  as  she  loved  to  be  called, 
was  now  in  her  forty-ninth  year,  and  far  from  a  paragon 
of  beauty.  Her  face  was  long,  and  ornamented  with  a 
high  hooked  nose,  little,  dark,  beady,  short-sighted  e3^es, 
thin  lips,  and  a  set  of  black  teeth.*  She  beat  her  maids 
of  honor,  boxed  the  ears  of  her  courtiers,  and  sAvore  like 
a  fish-woman.f  The  Duke  of  Anjou  was  twenty  years 
her  junior,  but  apart  from  his  youth  had  no  advantage 
in  personal  appearance.  He  was  below  the  middle  height, 
puny,  and  ill-shaped.  His  face  was  scarred  by  the  small- 
pox, covered  with  red  blotches,  and  his  nose  so  swollen 


*  Motley's  "United  Netherlands,"  i.  318,  iii.  171,  359;  "The  Puri- 
tans and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  Samuel  Hopkins,  i.  123. 
t  Harrington,  "  Nugse  Antiquce,"  i.  354 ;  Drake,  p.  418. 


ELIZABETH   AND   THE   DUKE   OF   ANJOU  237 

and  distorted  that  it  looked  as  if  double ;  a  proper  feat- 
ure, his  enemies  said,  for  a  man  who  had  two  faces.* 
Added  to  these  attractions  was  a  voice  which  led  Eliza- 
beth to  call  him  her  little  "  Frog."  Still,  he  was  the  heir 
to  the  throne  of  France,  and  at  this  juncture  an  alliance 
with  that  power  may  have  seemed  to  Elizabeth  essential 
to  her  security. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1581,  Anjou  went  to  England  for 
the  third  time  to  put  an  end  to  his  long  courtship.  The 
arrangements  for  the  marriage  had  been  all  completed, 
but  perhaps  a  long  look  at  such  a  lover  was  too  much 
for  a  woman  who  even  at  sixty  believed  herself  a  Yenus. 
For  three  months  he  dangled  about  the  court,  while  she 
played  the  coy  maiden  in  her  teens.  The  English  people 
were  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  another  papistical  mar- 
riage, the  marriage  denounced  by  Stubbs  three  years 
before  in  the  famous  pamphlet  which  cost  him  his  right 
hand.  Outwardly  the  queen  seemed  determined  to  ad- 
here to  the  engagement,  but  one  pretext  after  another 
afforded  excuses  for  delay.  Possibly  she  may  have  felt 
doubtful  of  the  promised  aid  from  France  in  defending 
her  kingdom  against  its  enemies,  or  she  may  have  wished 
to  see  how  her  future  husband  would  conduct  himself  as 
sovereign  of  the  Netherlands.  But,  whatever  may  have 
been  her  motives,  the  ceremony  was  postponed ;  and  in 
February,  1582,  her  noble,  or  ignoble,  suitor,  leaving  his 

*  The  following  epigram  -was  circulated  in  England  upon  Anjou's 
departure  for  the  Netherlands: 

"  Good  people  of  Flanders,  pray  do  not  suppose 
That  'tis  monstrous  this  Frenchman  should  double  his  nose; 
Dame  Nature  her  flivors  but  rarely  misplaces, 
She  has  given  two  noses  to  match  his  two  faces." 

— Taylor's  "  Romantic  Biography  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth,"  i.  93. 
(London,  1843.) 


288      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

mistress  bathed  in  tears,  recrossed  the  Channel,  accom- 
panied by  a  splendid  retinue  of  English  nobles,  to  assume 
the  duties  of  his  new  position.* 

When  Anjou  arrived  in  the  IS'etherlands,  he  assumed 
in  the  ten  provinces,  where  he  had  been  elected  sover- 
eign, the  position  of  a  constitutional  monarch,  with 
such  powers  only  as  the  people  claimed  had  rightfully 
belonged  to  Philip.  He  was  installed  as  duke,  count,  or 
marquis  of  the  various  states,  and  took  a  solemn  oath  to' 
preserve  inviolate  the  ancient  liberties  and  to  maintain 
the  right  of  conscience.  He  was  also  to  procure  the 
assistance  of  his  brother,  the  King  of  France,  and  main- 
tain a  perpetual  league,  offensive  and  defensive,  between 
that  kingdom  and  the  provinces.  As  for  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  they  were  to  remain  as  they  were,  subject  to 
the  Prince  of  Orange. 

But  the  new  ruler,  who  had  no  more  idea  of  constitu- 
tional liberty  than  Philip  himself,  and  who  had  come 
into  the  country  from  the  lowest  motives  of  personal 
ambition,  soon  began  to  chafe  under  the  restraints  im- 
posed upon  him  by  the  ancient  charters.  He  complained 
that  he  was  a  monarch  only  in  form,  the  real  power 
being  held  by  the  States-General.  A  brilliant  victory 
in  the  field  might  have  done  something  for  him,  by 
winning  him  the  hand  of  Elizabeth  or  by  procuring  sub 
stantial  assistance  from  his  brother ;  but  he  was  no  match 
for  Parma,  and  could  see  nothing  before  him  but  a  long 
contest,  from  which  he  would  gain  little.  In  this  position, 
and  incited  by  his  French  counseEors,  who  taunted  him 


*  Despite  his  personal  appearance,  Anjou  must  have  had  some 
attractions.  Hallam  agrees  with  Lingard  in  tliinking  that  Elizabeth 
had  a  real  passion  for  him.  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  233.  The  marriage,  he 
says,  was  clearly  repugnant  to  good  policy. 


ANJOU  ATTEMPTS  TO  SUBVEET  THE  GOVERNMENT     239 

with  his  insignificance,  he  attempted  a  movement  which 
showed  how  little  he  understood  his  subjects.  The  plan 
was,  with  the  aid  of  his  own  troops,  to  take  possession 
of  the  most  important  cities  and  make  himself  supreme 
by  force.  The  first  attack  Avas  made  on  Antwerp,  in 
June,  1583,  but  the  burghers  rose  in  force,  drove  out  the 
French  with  great  slaughter,  and  Anjou,  who  was  wait- 
ing without  the  walls,  retired  in  deep  disgust.  Such  an 
act  of  treachery  naturally  gave  rise  to  intense  indigna- 
tion, and  the  Estates  wished  to  confer  the  sovereignty 
on  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  peremptorily  refused,  de- 
claring that  under  no  circumstances  would  he  place  it  in 
the  power  of  Philip  to  say  that  he  had  been  actuated  by 
selfish  motives.  Finally,  he  succeeded  in  persuading  the 
Estates  to  overlook  the  past  upon  the  ground  that  it 
would  be  dangerous  to  break  with  France.  The  year 
was  spent  in  negotiations  looking  to  a  renewal  of  the 
old  relations.  They  proved  fruitless,  however,  and  were 
finally  terminated  by  the  death  of  Anjou,  whose  worth- 
less career  came  to  an  end  in  the  summer  of  1584. 

Brief  and  inglorious  as  was  the  rule  of  Anjou,  and 
despicable  as  was  his  character,  their  connection  with 
him  was  not  without  advantage  to  the  ISTetherlanders. 
In  such  a  contest  every  year,  or  even  every  month,  is 
a  decided  gain.  The  northern,  provinces  were  daily 
growing  in  strength  and  in  the  feeling  of  self-confi- 
dence. The  war  was  transferred  largely  to  the  South, 
and  even  the  limited  moral  support  of  France  and  Eng- 
land had  been  of  inestimable  benefit. 

During  the  whole  movement  the  Prince  of  Orange 
had  shown  incomparable  sagacity  as  a  statesman,  and 
Philip  regarded  him  as  almost  his  only  enemy.  Remove 
this  enemy,  he  thought,  and  all  disaffection  would  soon 
cease.    The  first  attempt  was  made  by  bribery.     When 


240        THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Parma  assumed  the  government  he  found  many  of  the 
J^etherland  nobles  in  the  lower  provinces  purchasable  as 
cattle  at  a  fair.  Perhaps  he  thought  that  all  men  had 
their  price ;  he  certainly  had  no  conception  of  the  char- 
acter of  this  man,  or  of  his  Protestant  associates  in  Hol- 
land, no  one  of  whom  was  ever  bought  with  gold.*  The 
Prince  of  Orange  was  offered  any  terms  that  he  might 
name — the  release  of  his  son,  the  restoration  of  his  confis- 
cated property,  the  payment  of  his  debts,  and  a  million 
in  addition.  All  such  offers  he  met  with  silent  contempt. 
His  debts  incurred  during  the  progress  of  the  war  were 
enormous,  almost  sufficient  to  sweep  aw^ay  his  vast  es- 
tates ;  he  loved  his  son,  and  no  man  had  been  fonder 
of  luxury  and  all  that  wealth  can  buy.  These  things 
Philip  and  Parma  knew,  but  they  did  not  know  the  man. 
Bribery  proving  of  no  avail,  Philip  now  turned  to 
murder.  In  June,  1580,  he  issued  a  proclamation,  de- 
claring the  prince  an  outlaw,  and  offering  a  reward  of 
twenty-five  thousand  crowns  to  any  person  who  would 
rid  him  of  "  the  pest."  In  addition,  the  assassin  was  to 
be  forgiven  any  past  crimes,  however  heinous,  and,  if 
not  noble  already,  was  to  be  ennobled  "  for  his  valor."  f 
Following  this  ban,  five  successive  attempts  were  made 
upon  the  great  patriot's  life.  One,  in  1582,  proved  nearly 
fatal,  a  bullet  entering  his  neck  and  passing  through  the 
jaw.  He  thought  himself  mortally  wounded,  but,  even 
in  what  seemed  his  last  agony,  did  not  forget  the  exam- 
ple of  his  divine  Master.  "  Do  not  kill  him.  I  forgive 
him  my  death,"  he  said  to  the  bystanders  who  rushed 
upon  the  would-be  murderer.  Then  two  more  years 
rolled  around  and  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  proved  ef- ' 
fectual.     On  July  10th,  1584,  Balthazar  Gerard  fired  the 


*  Davies,  ii.  656.  t  Motley,  iil.  493. 


ASSASSINATION   OF   WILLIAM   OP   ORANGE  241 

shot  which  brought  such  joy  to  Philip  as  he  had  not  felt 
since  the  clay  of  St.  Bartholomew,  but  which  wrapped  a 
land  in  mourning.  The  pope,  the  Jesuits  who  aided  in 
the  plot,  the  assassin  himself,  and  the  monarch  who  en- 
nobled and  enriched  his  heirs,  all  declared  that  the  mur- 
derer had  done  God's  work.  The  victim  died  breath- 
ing the  prayer,  "  God  have  mercy  on  my  poor  people !" 
Three  centuries  have  judged  between  them. 

Thus  fell  the  foremost  Puritan  of  the  age,  perhaps  of 
all  the  ages.  For  sixteen  years  he  had  headed  the  con- 
test against  the  power  of  Spain.  In  that  time,  although 
much  remained  to  be  done,  a  mighty  work  had  been 
accomplished.  At  the  outset  there  had  been  seventeen 
separate  provinces — full  of  vitality  and  love  of  liberty,  to 
be  sure,  but  disorganized,  undisciplined,  unconscious  of 
their  power.  Through  them  swarmed  a  host  of  Prot- 
estants, ready  enough  to  die  for  their  rehgion,  but  not 
knowing  how  otherwise  to  make  their  lives  useful  to  the 
cause.  Untrained  to  warfare,  they  fell  in  the  field  be- 
fore Alva  as  before  a  cyclone.  This,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
not  from  lack  of  courage.  Like  the  Spanish  moun- 
taineers, two  centuries  later,  if  their  armies  fought  like 
mobs,  their  mobs  fought  like  armies.  What  they  did 
with  discipline  will  appear  hereafter,  but  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  struggle  their  future  seemed  indeed  a  hope- 
less one.  To  this  people  William  of  Orange  came  as 
a  savior.  His  triumphs  were  not  like  those  of  Crom- 
well, for  the  latter's  adversaries  knew  little  more  of  prac- 
tical warfare  than  his  soldiers  or  himself.  Besides  this, 
Cromwell  was  a  leader  among  a  martial  nation.*    All 


*  A  recent  writer  has  well  said  that  when  an  Englishman  is  in 
want  of  amusement  he  goes  out  and  kills  something.     Froude's 
"  Oceana."     This  instinct  has  always  characterized  the  race. 
I.— 16 


242       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

their  pleasures  and  pursuits  made  them  at  the  time  of 
the  great  rebellion  the  best  material  out  of  which  to 
form  an  army.  The  Parliamentary  recruits  had  the 
same  opportunity  to  acquire  discipline  as  their  oppo- 
nents, and  hence,  with  more  intensity  of  purpose,  be- 
came invincible  in  the  field. 

With  the  JS'etherlanders  it  was  very  different.  For 
centuries  they  had  been  pursuing  the  arts  of  peace,  while 
their  adversaries  had  been  cultivating  war.  Their  supe- 
rior civilization  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  worked 
against  them,  but  in  the  end,  engrafted  as  it  was  on  a 
brave  and  sturdy  nature,  this  high  civilization  told.  That 
it  did  so,  and  that  not  in  its  despite,  but  by  reason  of 
it,  they  finally  achieved  and  maintained  their  indepen- 
dence, while  just  the  reverse  occurred  in  England,  is  one 
of  the  most  important  lessons  taught  by  history. 

It  was,  therefore,  in  the  beginning  of  the  contest  that 
the  most  difficult  work  had  to  be  accomplished ;  and  when 
the  hour  struck,  William  of  Orange  appeared.  His  task 
was  to  encourage  the  people,  keep  up  their  hopes,  teach 
them  their  strength,  heal  their  dissensions,  reconcile  their 
differences,  and  mould  them  together  as  one  nation.  At 
his  death  seven  of  the  provinces  had  entirly  thrown  off 
the  foreign  yoke,  and  were  bound  together  in  a  perma- 
nent union.  Five  more  were  in  open  revolt,  although 
attached  to  the  others  by  a  lighter  chain.  Had  he  lived 
a  few  years  longer,  the  republic  might  have  embraced 
them  all ;  but  such  speculations,  of  course,  are  idle.  He 
had  laid  a  great  foundation,  and  with  that  history  must 
be  content. 

In  one  quarter,  however,  his  work  was  substantially 
finished,  and  if  he  had  done  nothing  else,  this  alone  would 
entitle  him  to  imperishable  honor.  As  the  founder,  of 
religious  toleration,  which,  largely  through  the  influence 


WILLIAM   OF   ORANGE   AND    EELIGIOUS   TOLERATION  243 

of  Holland,  has  developed  into  religious  liberty,  the  pe- 
culiar glory  of  the  United  States,  every  American  at 
least  should  revere  his  memory. 

It  was  an  age  when  religious  toleration,  except  as  a 
political  necessity,  was  a  thing  unknown.  Sir  Thomas 
More,  in  England,  had  playfully  speculated  upon  the 
subject,  but  when  placed  in  power  had  developed  into  a 
bitter  persecutor.*  William  of  Orange  not  only  advo- 
cated, but  practised,  principles  of  full  religious  tolera- 
tion. Nor  were  his  theories,  as  is  the  case  with  many 
men,  the  result  of  indifferences  or  coldness  of  belief.  He 
had  been  born  a  Catholic,  and  in  youth  was  not  free 
from  the  looseness  of  morals  which  the  age  permitted 
and  excused.f  But  when  in  voluntary  exile  he  turned 
his  thoughts  to  religion  and  became  a  devout  Christian. 
In  October,  1573,  he  joined  the  Calvinists,  and  thereaf- 
ter, in  life  and  thought,  was  one  of  the  straitest  of  the 
sect.  Such  converts  usually  swell  the  host  of  the  intol- 
erant. It  was  not  so  with  him.  He  could  bear  with  the 
errors  of  others,  because  he  believed  in  the  goodness  of 
the  Almighty,  and  felt  himself  unworthy  of  forgiveness. 
During  his  rule  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  where  for  years 
he  was  almost  a  military  dictator,  these  principles  were 
put  to  the  severest  test.  Fortunately  for  the  world,  they 
were  strong  enough  to  stand  the  strain. 

The  people  about  him  had  been  the  victims  of  a  per- 
secution which  had  furrowed  the  soil  with  graves  and 
filled  the  land  with  widows  and  orphans.  "When  they 
came  into  power,  by  driving  out  the  Spaniards,  it  was 


*  See  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  Europe  "  for  a  judicious  criticism 
of  the  famous  "  Utopia ;"  also  Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs  "  for  an  ac- 
count of  More  in  practice. 

t  His  natural  sou  afterwards  became  Admiral  of  Holland. 


244       THE   PUKITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

but  human  to  think  of  retahation.  More  than  this,  they 
had  every  other  motive  that  ever  bred  intolerance  in 
other  lands,  and  all  intensified  in  degree.  The  Catholics 
among  them  not  only  professed  a  creed  which  they  be- 
lieved born  of  hell,  but,  in  addition,  were  largely  public 
enemies  or  lukewarm  friends.  They  were  men  whom 
they  had  fought  in  street  broils,  who  had  advised  the 
surrender  of  their  towns,  and  whom  they  suspected  of 
plotting  against  their  liberties.  Under  such  conditions, 
loud  were  the  cries  for  the  extirpation  or  banishment  of 
the  hated  papists ;  still  louder  were  those  for  the  sup- 
pression of  their  form  of  worship.  Against  all  this  Will- 
iam of  Orange  stood  like  a  wall  of  adamant.  Open  or 
known  civil  enemies  could  be  banished  or  suppressed,  he 
said,  but  no  man  must  be  molested  on  account  of  his  re- 
ligious faith.  Of  course  he  was  denounced.  Ministers 
from  the  pulpit  declared  that  he  cared  nothing  either  for 
God  or  for  religion.  Even  his  brother,  John  of  Kassau, 
protested  against  toleration  of  the  Catholics.  But  he 
carried  the  day ;  and  when  the  union  was  formed  be- 
tween Holland  and  Zeeland,  it  was  provided  that  no 
inquisition  should  be  made  into  any  man's  belief  or 
conscience,  nor  should  any  man  by  cause  thereof  suf- 
fer injury  or  hindrance.*  The  Reformed'  Evangelical 
Church  was  established  for  the  state,  but  no  other  form 
of  religion  was  to  be  suppressed  unless  contrary  to  the 
Gospel.  Toleration  thus  became  the  corner-stone  of 
the  republic,  and  under  this  liberal  doctrine  all  sects 
throve  and  were  protected,  even  the  Jews,  who  denied 
the  Gospel,  never  being  disturbed  on  that  account.f 


*  Motley,  iii.  59. 

t  In  1586,  Catholics  held  office  and  taught  school  in  the  city  of 
Leyden.     Motley's  "United  Netherlands,"  ii.  333. 


THE    ANABAPTISTS   AND   THEIR   DOCTRINES  245 

As  some  of  the  rebellious  provinces  contained  a  major- 
ity of  Catholics,  a  system  of  toleration  towards  them 
would  be  dictated  by  wise  policy.  If,  therefore,  they 
alone  had  been  protected,  history  might  be  content  with 
giving  William  of  Orange  credit  for  statesmanship  only, 
although  that  kind  of  statesmanship  was  then,  almost  as 
rare  as  toleration  from  principle.  But  his  conduct  tow- 
ards other  religious  bodies  disposes  of  the  theory  that 
he  stood  on  any  except  the  highest  plane  of  thought 
and  action.  In  proof  of  this,  we  may  look  at  the  ex- 
perience of  one  of  these  bodies,  the  most  interesting  of 
them  all,  especially  to  Americans,  as  the  reader  will 
see  when  we  come  to  trace  the  growth  of  dissent  in 
England. 

Among  the  many  sects  brought  forth  in  the  early 
ferment  of  the  Reformation,  the  Anabaptists  have  per- 
haps left  the  most  unsavory  reputation.  First  appear- 
ing about  1522,  some  of  them  had,  twelve  years  later, 
been,  guilty  in  Holland  of  gross  and  immoral  extrava- 
gances, which  historians  have  fully  pictured,  and  the  re- 
membrance of  which  has  always  clung  around  their 
name.*  Such  events  it  is  characteristic  of  human  nature 
to  dwell  upon,  but  corresponding  stress  has  not  always 
been  laid  on  the  subsequent  history  of  this  interesting 
people.  In  fact,  their  excesses  were  the  work  of  but  a 
minority  of  the  sect,  and  were  also  of  very  brief  duration. 
After  a  rule  of  a  few  months,  their  prophets  were  put 
to  death,  leaving  behind  them  a  numerous  body  of  ear- 
nest disciples  who  had  acquiesced  in.  polygamous  prac- 
tices only  from  a  conviction  that  they  were  divinely  or- 
dained. With  their  leaders  gone,  the  offensive  doctrines 
of  the  old  dispensation  were  universally  abandoned. 


*  Davies's  "  Holland;'  i.  396. 


240       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Most  of  the  sect  changed  their  name  to  Mennonites,* 
and  they  all  confined  themselves  to  tenets  derived  from, 
the  'New  Testament,  which  made  them  the  most  peace- 
ful and  inoffensive  Christians  of  the  world. 

Their  most  striking  article  of  faith,  the  one  which 
gave  them  a  name,  was  that  baptism  should  be  confined 
to  adults,  including  those  wdio  had  been  baptized  in  in- 
fancy by  other  denominations.  But  this,  if  the  most 
striking,  was  not  the  most  important  of  their  doctrines. 
In  early  days  they  were  composed  almost  entirely  of 
the  unlearned,  who  could  understand  the  simple  teach- 
ings of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  more  easily  than 
those  of  his  philosophic  successors.  Hence  it  was,  per- 
haps, that,  antedating  the  English  Quakers  by  more  than 
a  century,  they  took  the  words  of  the  Great  Master  seri- 
ously,f  and  believed  it  wrong  to  resist  evil,  go  to  law, 
bear  arms,  take  oaths,  or  assume  any  ofiice  of  magis- 
tracy w^hich  might  cause  them  to  judge  others.  These 
tenets,  of  course,  included  the  broad  doctrine  of  entire 
sejDaration  of  Church  and  State,  and  perfect  liberty  of 
conscience. :|:  Private  ownership  of  property  they  at 
first  also  abandoned  as  unchristian,  holding  that  all 
thino;s  should  be  in  common,§ 


*  They  called  themselves  Mennonites,  after  Meuno  Simons,  of  Fries- 
land,  a  new  leader,  but  by  others  were  still  called  Anabaptists. 

t  A  phrase  used  by  W.  D.  Howells  when  reviewing  "  My  Relig- 
ion," by  Count  Leo  Tolstoi,  in  Ra7ye7-''s  Magazine  for  1886. 

X  "  The  Anabaptists  in  Switzerland,"  by  Dr.  Pliilip  ScbaflF,  Baptist 
QuarteHy  Review,  July,  1889. 

§  Davies's  "Holland,"  i.  396.  The  Eussian  author.  Count  Tolstoi, 
in  "  My  Religion,"  without  alluding  to  the  Anabaptists  or  Quakers, 
advocates  these  doctrines  with  great  abilitj^,  as  embodying  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  before  the  admixture  of  Greek  philosophy  or 
Roman  paganism. 


WILLIAM   PROTECTS  THE   ANABAPTISTS  247 

What  tliey  professed  they  practised.  An  incident 
which  occurred  in  1569,  during  the  rule  of  Alva,  illus- 
trates their  ideas  of  returning  good  for  evil.  A  poor 
Anabaptist  was  pursued  by  an  officer  of  justice,  who, 
under  the  order  of  the  Inquisition,  wished  to  bring  him 
to  the  stake.  The  fugitive  passed  over  a  frozen  lake,  the 
brittle  ice  of  which  cracked  beneath  his  feet.  The  offi- 
cer, following  hard  after,  was  less  fortunate.  He  sank 
into  the  deep  water,  uttering  cries  for  help.  l>lo  one  else 
was  near  to  save  him,  and  so  the  hunted  fugitive,  at  the 
peril  of  his  own  life,  recrossed  the  treacherous  ice  and 
rescued  his  enemy  from  certain  death.  Then,  giving 
life  for  life,  he  went  back  and  met  a  martyr's  doom.* 

Such  a  people  had  no  political  influence,  and  some  of 
the  Calvinists  of  the  time  thought  their  heresies  worthy 
of  the  severest  punishment.  Zwingli,  in  Switzerland, 
had  denounced  their  doctrine  of  adult  baptism  as  deserv- 
ing of  death,  and  under  his  influence  a  number  were 
executed  there,  while  in  Germany  they  suffered  by  the 
thousand. f  In  Holland  an  attempt  was  made  simply 
to  exclude  them  from  citizenship,  and  even  Sainte  Alde- 
gonde,  the  accomplished  scholar  and  friend  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  was  in  favor  of  the  project.  How  he  was 
met  is  told  in  one  of  his  own  letters.  "  The  affair  of 
the  Anabaptists  has  been  renewed.  The  prince  objects 
to  exclude  them  from  citizenship.  He  answered  me 
sharply  that  their  yea  was  equal  to  our  oath,  and  that 
we  should  not  press  this  matter  unless  we  were  willing 
to  confess  that  it  was  just  for  the  papists  to  compel  us  to 
a  divine  service  which  was  ao-ainst  our  conscience.     In 


*  Motley's  "  Dutch  Republic,"  ii.  280,  citing  Brandt's  "  History  of 
the  Reformation,"  sec.  1,  b.  x.  p.  500. 
t  "  The  Anabaptists  in  Switzerland." 


248       THE    PUKITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

short,  I  don't  see  how  we  can  accomplish  our  wish  in 
this  matter.  The  prince  has  uttered  reproaches  to  me 
that  our  clergy  are  striving-  to  obtain  a  mastery  over 
conscience."  * 

This  was  in  15YT.  In  the  next  year  the  authorities  of 
Middelburg,  in  Zeeland,  attempted  a  persecution  of  the 
Anabaptists  in  their  midst.  This  the  prince  at  once 
arrested.  He  wrote  to  the  magistrates  reminding  them 
that  these  peaceful  burghers  were  always  perfectl}^  will- 
ing to  bear  their  share  of  the  common  burdens,  that 
their  word  was  as  good  as  an  oath,  and  that  as  to  the 
matter  of  military  service,  although  their  principles  for- 
bade them  to  bear  arms,  they  had  ever  been  ready  to 
provide  and  pay  for  substitutes.  "  We  declare  to  you, 
therefore,"  said  he,  "  that  you  have  no  right  to  trouble 
yourselves  with  any  man's  conscience  so  long  as  nothing 
is  done  to  cause  private  harm  or  public  scandal.  We 
therefore  expressly  ordain  that  you  desist  from  molest- 
ing these  Baptists,  from  offering  hindrance  to  their 
handicraft  and  daily  trade  by  which  they  can  earn  bread 
for  their  wives  and  children,  and  that  you  permit  them 
henceforth  to  open  their  shops  and  to  do  their  work  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  former  days.  Beware,  there- 
fore, of  disobedience  and  of  resistance  to  the  ordinance 
which  we  now  establish. "f 

Thus  did  William  of  Orange  protect  even  the  mem- 
bers of  this  poor  and  despised  sect.  His  influence  was 
effectual,  for  we  hear  little  more  of  any  attempts  at 
their  persecution  in  the  Dutch  Eepublic,;}: 


*  Motley,  iii.  206.  Brandt's  "  History  of  the  Reformation,"  sec.  1, 
b.  xi.  pp.  588,  589.  t  Motley,  iii.  334.     Brandt,  i.  609,610. 

I  In  Holland,  the  Mennonites,  or  Anabaptists,  were  exempted  from 
military  service  in  1575,  from  taking  an  oath  in  1585,  and  from  ac- 


DUTCH   TOLERATION    IN  AMERICA  249 

Some  eighty-five  years  after  this  last  event,  a  govern- 
or of  the  colony  which  the  Dutch  "West  India  Company 
had  planted  on  the  Hudson  River,  in  America,  began  on 
his  own  account  a  persecution  of  some  harmless  Quakers 
who  had  been  driven  from  Massachusetts.  An  appeal 
was  made  to  the  home  authorities  at  Amsterdam,  who 
extinguished  it  at  once  by  a  letter  containing  these 
memorable  words :  "  At  least  the  consciences  of  men 
ought  to  remain  free.  Let  every  one  remain  free  as 
long  as  he  is  modest,  moderate,  his  political  conduct  irre- 
proachable, and  as  long  as  he  does  not  offend  others  or 
oppose  the  government.  This  maxim  of  moderation  has 
always  been  the  guide  of  our  magistrates  in  this  city ; 
and  the  consequence  has  been  that  people  have  flocked 
from  every  land  to  this  asylum.  Tread  thus  in  their 
steps,  and  we  doubt  not  you  will  be  blessed."  *  In  this 
manner  did  the  principles  of  toleration  established  by 
William  in  Holland  bear  their  fruits  in  America,  twenty 
years  before  the  great  English  Quaker  carried  them  to 
Pennsylvania.f 

cepting  any  public  office  in  1617.  In  Zeeland,  freedom  from  military 
service  and  oaths  was  granted  tliem  in  1577,  but  tlierc,  at  a  later 
day,  and  also  in  Frisia,  they  paid  a  heavy  poll-tax  for  the  military 
exemption.  Barclay's  "Inner  Life  of  the  Religious  Societies  of  the 
Commonwealth,"  p.  608.  How  they  were  burned  at  the  stake  in 
Protestant  England  we  shall  see  in  due  time. 

*  Brodhead's  "  History  of  New  York,"  i.  707. 

t  Penn  himself  fully  appreciated  the  religious  liberty  which  ex- 
isted in  the  Dutch  Republic.  In  1686,  a  century  after  the  death  of 
William  of  Orange,  he  published  a  treatise  entitled  "  A  Persuasive 
■;o  Moderation,"  an  argument  for  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  church 
dissenters.  In  tliis  work  he  gives  an  illustration  of  what  real  liber- 
ty can  accomplish.  "  Holland,  that  bog  of  the  v/orld,  neither  sea  nor 
dry  land,  now  the  rival  of  the  tallest  monarchs,  not  by  conquests, 
marriage,  or  accession  of  royal  blood,  the  usual  way  to  empire,  but 


250       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Passing-  over  still  another  century,  we  come  to  the 
time  when,  having  thrown,  off  the  authority  of  Great 
Britain,  the  thirteen  American  colonies  adopted  state 
constitutions.  Of  all  the  thirteen,  two,  and  two  only — 
Virginia  and  New  York — embodied  in  their  great  char- 
ters of  freedom  guarantees  for  religious  liberty. 

But  even  the  action  of  Virginia,  much  as  it  is  deserv- 
ing of  praise,  falls  somewhat  behind  the  action  of  ISlew 
York.  The  other  states  retained  religious  tests  for  their 
officials,  or  in  some  form  made  religious  discrimina- 
tions. Virginia,  in  1776,  issued  a  Declaration  of  Kights, 
which,  it  is  claimed,  formed  part  of  her  Constitution, 
laying  down  the  principle,  "  That  religion,  or  the  duty 
which  we  owe  to  our  Creator,  and  the  manner  of  dis- 
charging it,  can  be  directed  only  by  reason  and  convic- 
tion, not  by  force  or  violence ;  and,  therefore,  all  men 
are  equally  entitled  to  the  free  exercise  of  religion  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  conscience ;  and  that  it  is  the 
mutual  duty  of  all  to  practise  Christian  forbearance, 
love,  and  charit}'^  towards  each  other."  These  were 
novel  sentiments  in  that  region,  and  bore  fruit  in  time ; 
still,  the  state  retained  its  established  church  until  1785, 
and  "in  various  other  ways  fell  short  of  practising  full 
religious  liberty.* 


by  her  own  superlative  clemency  and  industry,  for  the  one  was  the 
eft'ect  of  the  other.  She  cherished  lier  people,  whatsoever  were  their 
opinions,  as  the  reasonable  stock  of  the  country,  the  heads  and 
hands  of  her  trade  and  wealth  ;  and  making  tiiem  easy  ou  tlie  main 
point,  their  conscience,  she  became  great  by  them.  This  made  her 
fill  up  with  people,  and  tliey  filled  her  with  riches  and  strengtli." 

*  See  "Proceedings  of  American  Historical  Society,"  iii.  No.  1, 
p,  205.  Even  in  Rhode  Island,  founded  by  Roger  Williams,  Roman 
Catholics  were  deprived  of  the  suffrage,  under  a  statute  which  was 
passed  in  1719,  and  not  repealed  until   1783.    See  Repealing  act, 


NEW    YORK    AND    RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY  251 

]^ew  York,  however,  in  its  first  Constitution,  adopted 
in  17Y7,  proceeded  at  the  outset  to  do  away  with  the 
estabhshed  church,  repeahng  all  such  parts  of  the  com- 
mon law  and  all  such  statutes  of  the  province  "  as  may 
be  construed  to  establish  or  maintain  any  particular  de- 
nomination of  Christians  or  their  ministers."*  Then 
followed  a  section  much  broader  and  more  explicit  than 
that  in  the  Yirginia  Declaration  of  Eights — a  section 
which,  it  is  believed,  entitles  ISTew  York  to  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  organized  government  of  the  world 
to  assert  by  constitutional  provision  the  principle  of 
perfect  religious  freedom.  It  reads  as  follows :  "  And 
whereas,  we  are  required  by  the  benevolent  principles 
of  rational  liberty,  not  only  to  expel  civil  tyranny,  but 
also  to  guard  against  that  spiritual  oppression  and  in- 
tolerance wherewith  the  bigotry  and  ambition  of  weak 
and  wicked  priests  and  princes  have  scourged  mankind, 
this  convention  doth  further,  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  good  people  of  this  state,  ordain,  de- 
termine, and  declare  that  the  free  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  dis- 
crimination or  preference,  shall  forever  hereafter  be  al- 
lowed within  this  state  to  all  mankind."  f 

Thomas  Jefferson,  to  whom  Yirginia  is  chiefly  in- 
debted for  her  religious  liberty,  derived  his  religious  as 
well  as  his  political  ideas  from  the  philosophers  of 
Trance.     But  the  men  who  framed  this  constitutional 


"Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,"  3cl  series,  v.  243.  However,  as  there  were  no 
Catholics  iu  Rhode  Island,  this  law  did  not  interfere  with  the  prac- 
tical religious  liberty  that  always  existed  iu  that  colony.  If  the 
state  had  adopted  a  Constitution  when  the  others  did,  it  doubtless 
would  have  been  as  liberal  as  was  that  of  New  York. 

*  Section  35.  "  t  Section  38. 


253     THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

provision  for  JSTew  York,  which  has  since  spread  over 
most  of  the  United  States,  and  lies  at  the  base  of  Amer- 
ican rehgious  Uberty,  Avere  not  freethinkers,  although 
they  believed  in  freedom  of  thought.  Their  Dutch  an- 
cestors had  practised  religious  toleration,  they  expanded 
toleration  into  liberty,  and  in  this  form  transmitted  to 
posterity  the  heritage  which  Holland  had  sent  across 
the  sea  a  century  and  a  half  before.* 

How  far  the  example  of  Holland  influenced  the  states- 
men who,  at  a  later  date,  placed  in  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution its  guarantees  of  religious  liberty  can  be  shown 
by  very  high  authority.  This  instrument,  as  originally 
adopted  in  1787,  contains  a  provision f  that  "no  relig- 
ious test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States."  By  an 
amendment,  added  in  1791,  Congress  is  prohibited  from 
making  any  law  "  respecting  an  establishment  of  relig- 
ion, or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof.'' 

James  Madison,  of  Virginia,  was  the  chief  advocate 
of  this  amendment  in  Congress.    Writino-  about  it,  some 


*  The  first  Coustitution  of  Maryland,  1776,  provided  for  a  belief 
in  the  Cliristian  religion  as  a  qualification  for  office.  In  1868  this 
was  changed  to  a  "  belief  in  the  existence  of  God."  The  first  Con- 
stitution of  Massachusetts,  1790,  contained  tlie  same  provision  as 
that  of  Maryland.  It  was  struck  out  by  an  amendment  in  1823, 
but  the  state  church  was  retained  until  1833.  The  first  constitu- 
tions of  New  Jersey  and  North  Carolina  restricted  ofiice-holding  to 
Protestant  believers  in  tlie  Bil)le.  This  was  modified  in  New  Jer- 
sey in  1844,  and  in  Nortli  Carolina  in  1868,  so  as  to  limit  the  test 
to  a  belief  in  God.  The  only  religious  disabilities  now  existing  in 
any  of  the  United  States  are  the  exclusion  of  atheists  from  office  in 
New  Jersey,  jNIaryland,  Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Tennessee,  and  the  exclusion  of  clergymen  in  Delaware, 
Maryland,  and  Tennessee.  t  Article  vi. 


TIIE    PEOPLE   OP   HOLLAND    AND    RELIGIOUS   TOLERATION       253 

thirty  years  later,  he  said:  "It  was  the  belief  of  all 
sects  at  one  time  that  the  establishment  of  religion  by 
law  was  right  and  necessary;  that  the  true  religion 
ought  to  be  established  in  exclusion  of  every  other ; 
and  that  the  only  question  to  be  decided  was,  which 
was  the  true  religion.  The  example  of  Holland  proved 
that  a  toleration  of  sects  dissenting  from  the  established 
sect  was  safe  and  even  useful.  The  example  of  the 
colonies,  now  states,  which  rejected  religious  establish- 
ments altogether,  proved  that  all  sects  might  be  safely 
and  advantageously  put  on  a  footing  of  equal  and  en- 
tire freedom.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  in  Virginia 
religion  prevails  with  more  zeal  and  a  more  exemplary 
priesthood  than  it  ever  did  when  established  and  pat- 
ronized by  public  authority.  We  are  teaching  the  world 
the  great  truth  that  governments  do  better  without 
kings  and  nobles  than  Avitli  them.  The  merit  will  be 
doubled  by  the  other  lesson,  that  religion  flourishes  in 
greater  purity  without  than  ^vith  the  aid  of  govern- 
ment." * 

We  have  thus  traced  some  few  of  the  results  which 
followed  in  the  train  of  the  religious  toleration  estab- 
lished in  Holland  before  the  death  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  a  subject  which  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in 
some  later  chapters  when  considering  the  independent 
sects  which  grew  up  in  England.  That  he  was  the 
leader  in  settling  this  great  principle  admits  of  no  ques- 
tion, but  still  he  should  not  have  all  the  honor.  It  is 
unjust,  as  many  writers  have  done,  to  charge  the  Puri- 
tans of  England  or  'New  England  with  the  intolerance 
of  a  portion  of  their  number,  and  it  is  equally  unjust  to 


*  Madison  to  Edward  Livingston,  July  10th,  1823,  "  Letters  and 
other  Writings  of  James  Madison,"  iii.  275,  276. 


254        THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

take  from  the  people  of  Holland  their  meed  of  praise. 
Much  as  they  loved  their  chosen  ruler,  he  could  have 
accomplished  little  had  they  not  stood  behind  him  and 
given  him  support.  As  we  have  seen,  narrow-minded 
fanatics,  there  as  elsewhere,  pronounced  toleration  a 
covenant  with  hell,  but  they  must  have  been  in  a  de- 
cided minority.  Certainly  they  had  no  power,  after 
the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  overthrow  his 
work.  This  fact  tells  its  own  story.  Holland  never 
knew  any  persecution  for  religious  differences,  except 
for  a  few  years  in  the  next  century,  after  the  famous 
Synod  of  Dort,  a  subject  which  will  be  considered  when 
we  reach  that  period. 

JSTothing  so  well  illustrates  the  difference  between 
England  and  the  ISTetherlands,  during  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  as  the  contrasted  effects  produced 
by  the  death  of  Cromwell  and  by  that  of  William  the 
Silent.  Cromwell  was  the  military  and  civil  leader  of 
the  English  Commonwealth.  The  revolution  which 
raised  him  to  power  was  not  a  sudden  outburst  of  pop- 
ular excitement.  Had  it  been  of  that  character,  one 
might  have  looked  for  its  speedy  termination,  for  such 
violent  ebullitions  are  usually  short-lived.  This  out- 
break, on  the  contrary,  had  been  gathering  force  for 
many  years,  and  then  was  very  slow  in  taking  form; 
but  it  was  based  on  the  assertion  of  rights  which,  if  they 
ever  existed,  had  rested  in  comparativ^e  desuetude  for 
many  generations.  It  was  this  fact  which  caused  the 
weakness  of  the  Commonwealth,  for  men  will  always 
bear  an  old  burden  with  greater  patience  than  a  new 
one,  even  although  the  latter  may  be  lighter.  Its 
rapid  downfall  was  due  to  the  further  fact  that  the 
movement  went  too  far.  The  soldiers  who  conquered 
the  royalists  and  decapitated  their  king  thought  that 


THE    REPUBLIC    AFTER    WILLIAM'S    ASSASSINATION  255 

they  could  establish  a  republic  such  as  they  saw  ex- 
isting in  the  United  JSTetherlands.  Unfortunately,  the 
people  behind  them,  even  those  who  preferred  liberty 
to  servitude,  knew  little  of  self-government.  It  was, 
in  truth,  putting  new  wine  into  old  bottles.  Cromwell 
died,  and  the  Commonwealth  died  with  him. 

Such  a  result  as  this  was  anticipated  by  Philip,  when 
he  offered  a  reward  for  the  removal  of  his  illustrious 
arch-enemy.  Hearing  that  he  had  succeeded,  his  exul- 
tation was  natural  enough.  But  he  little  comprehended 
the  people,  of  whom  his  victim  was  only  a  representa- 
tive. He  had  no  conception  of  what  their  centuries  of 
civilization  and  practice  in  self-government  had  accom- 
plished for  them,  and  never  imagined  how  independent 
they  were  of  any  leaders.  He  was  soon,  however,  to  be 
fully  undeceived. 

When  the  news  of  the  assassination  of  "William  the 
Silent  spread  through  the  Netherlands  like  the  shock  of 
an  earthquake,  all  was  naturally  in  confusion.  He  had 
been  indeed  the  father  of  his  country,  and  the  people 
felt  that  they  were  orphans.  In  his  own  family  there 
was  no  one  then  qualified  to  take  his  place,  although  he 
left  eleven  children  and  a  widow,  the  daughter  of  the 
great  Cohgny.  The  eldest  son  was  still  in  Spain,  where, 
sadly  enough,  he  had  been  made  a  Spaniard  in  everv- 
thing  except  reverence  for  his  father's  memory.  The 
next  son,  Prince  Maurice  of  ISTassau,  was  a  brave  but 
quiet,  self-contained  lad  of  eighteen,  giving  as  yet  little 
promise  of  being  the  foremost  general  of  his  age.  He, 
however,  was  shortly  thereafter  chosen  stadtholder  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland,  in  recognition  of  his  father's  ser- 
vices. The  salary  now  attached  to  the  office,  with  an 
additional  provision  for  the  widow,  came  in  time  of 
need  for  the  unhappy  family.     The  prince  had  died  so 


256       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

deeply  in  debt  that  even  his  furniture,  silver,  and  ward- 
robe had  to  be  sold  to  satisfy  his  creditors. 

Still,  although  without  a  head,  the  people  had  no 
thought  of  making  peace  with  Spain.  On  the  very  day 
of  the  assassination,  the  Estates  of  Holland  passed  a  res- 
olution "to  maintain  the  good  cause,  with  God's  help, 
to  the  uttermost,  without  sparing  gold  or  blood."  In  a 
few  days  the  States-General  met.  Their  first  work  was 
to  appoint  an  executive  council  of  eighteen,  selected 
from  the  different  provinces,  with  Prince  Maurice  at  its 
head,  to  conduct  mihtary  operations.  Then  the  ques- 
tion arose  as  to  permanent  arrangements  for  the  future. 

As  we  shall  see  hereafter,  the  republic  had  already 
come,  but  its  presence  was  unrecognized.  ISTo  idea 
prevailed  as  yet  in  the  mind  of  any  one  that  the  con- 
test could  be  carried  on  alone.  During  the  lifetime  of 
William  ten  of  the  states  had  experimented  with  the 
worthless  Anjou  as  a  sovereign,  because  he  was  the 
brother  of  a  king,  and  affianced  to  a  queen.  They  all 
now  concluded  that  they  must  place  themselves  directly 
under  some  foreign  power,  who  would  help  them  against 
Spain,  preserving  their  ancient  liberties,  but  otherwise 
taking  the  place  which  had  been  forfeited  by  Philip. 
Among  the  European  states,  but  two  were  so  situated 
as  to  be  available.  These  were  England  and  France. 
England  was  nominally  Protestant,  but  was  governed 
by  a  queen  who  hated  and  persecuted  the  Calvinists 
more  bitterly  than  she  did  the  papists.  It  was  not  to 
be  expected  that  she  would  have  much  friendship  for 
the  strict  Calvinists  of  the  Netherlands.  On  the  other 
hand,  France  was  nominally  Catholic,  but  religious  tol- 
eration had  been  practised  there  for  years.  The  mon- 
arch was  childless,  and  it  was  known  that  he  could  have 
no  children.     The  next  heir  to  the  throne,  Anjou  being 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH   FKANCE-THE   HOLY   LEAGUE  257 

dead,  was  the  chivalrous  Henry  of  Kavarre,  the  leader 
of  the  Huguenots.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  pros- 
pects in  France  seemed  to  be  more  favorable. 

With  the  French  king,  therefore,  negotiations  were 
opened  directly  after  the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
We  need  not  go  into  the  details ;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
they  extended  over  eight  precious  months,  and  were 
then  terminated  by  the  final  declination  of  the  proffered 
sovereignty.  The  people  of  the  I*^etherlands  did  not  at 
first  know  what  brought  about  this  sudden  decision. 
From  the  earnest  assurances  of  the  Huguenots  and  the 
ambassador  of  the  king  himself,  they  had  been  led  to 
expect  a  different  result.  The  course  of  events  told  the 
story.  The  Catholics  of  Europe  were  unwilling  that 
Henry  of  l^avarre  should  accede  to  the  throne,  and  were 
plotting  for  his  exclusion.  The  pope,  who  was  working 
for  the  interest  of  the  Church,  and  Philip  of  Spain,  who 
saw  that  civil  war  in  France  would  cut  off  all  hope  of 
aid  to  the  Netherlands  from  that  quarter,  found  tools 
to  do  their  work.  They  were  the  same  instruments  who, 
thirteen  years  before,  had  carried  out  the  Massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew — the  king's  mother,  Catherine  de' 
Medici,  and  the  Duke  of  Guise.* 

To  execute  their  plans,  all  the  Guise  family,  supported 
by  the  prominent  Catholic  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  en- 


*  In  justice  to  the  memory  of  Catherine  as  a  woman  of  ability, 
however  bad  at  heart,  it  should  be  said  that  she  consented  to  the 
League  with  great  reluctance,  and  only  as  a  last  resort.  She  was 
now,  as  she  had  been  thirteen  years  earlier,  very  desirous  of  an  alli- 
ance between  England  and  France  to  aid  the  Protestants  in  the 
Netherlands.  Now  again  Elizabeth  refused  such  an  alliance,  and 
exhibited  the  same  chicanery  as  before.  This  conduct  again  drove 
Catherine  into  the  arms  of  the  ultra-Catholics,  and  the  king,  having- 
no  other  course  open,  went  with  his  mother.     Froude,  xii.  88,  etc. 

I.— 17 


258        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

tered  with  Philip  into  the  memorable  "  League.'^  Philip 
was  to  supply  money  from  Spain,  and  the  other  parties 
were  to  extirpate  heresy  in  France  and  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Henry  of  l^avarre  was  to  be  declared  incapable 
of  succeeding  to  the  throne,  and  his  place  was  to  be  taken 
by  his  father's  younger  brother,  whom,  however,  the 
Duke  of  Guise  had  secretly  decided  to  supplant,  while 
Philip  as  secretly  had  decided  that  his  own  daughter 
was  to  take  the  place.  Thus  civil  war  was  again  to 
raise  its  head  in  the  land,  for  the  miserable  monarch, 
as  weak  and  helpless  as  his  brother  Charles,  Avas  forced 
to  ally  himself,  at  least  openly,  with  the  enemies  of 
France. 

All  these  arrangements  were  completed,  but  kept 
concealed,  when,  in  March,  1585,  the  deputies  from  the 
States-General  received  their  final  answer.  Within  two 
weeks  the  Duke  of  Guise  unfurled  the  banners  of  the 
Holy  League.  Four  months  later  the  French  king,  at  its 
dictation,  issued  the  edict  which  was  to  drench  France 
with  blood.  By  its  provisions,  all  former  edicts  guaran- 
teeing religious  toleration  were  revoked.  Death  and 
confiscation  of  property  were  now  proclaimed  as  the 
penalty  of  heresy.  Six  months  were  allowed  to  the  non- 
conformists to  make  their  peace  with  Mother  Church ; 
after  that  period  they  were  to  leave  the  country,  or  ex- 
piate their  crimes  upon  the  gallows.  The  towns  held 
by  the  Huguenots  were  to  be  given  up,  while  the  Guise 
party  was  to  receive  certain  cities  as  security  that  the 
bloody  edict  should  be  carried  out.  The  next  month 
the  pope  thundered  his  decree  from  the  Vatican,  ex- 
communicating Henry  of  Navarre,  stripping  hiui  of  all 
dignities,  titles,  and  property,  and  declaring  him  incapa- 
ble of  ever  ascending  the  throne  of  France. 

Surely  Philip  of  Spain  had  here  done  a  satisfactory 


DARK    PROSPECTS   FOR   EUROPEAN    LIBERTY  259 

piece  of  work  in  bis  campaign  against  the  ISTetlierlands. 
He  had  lighted  a  flame  which  for  many  a  long  day  would 
destroy  all  hope  of  aid  from  France.  The  white-plumed 
knight  was  not  the  man  tamely  to  surrender  his  inherit- 
ance, nor  did  his  followers  purpose  either  to  go  into  exile 
or  quietly  to  ascend  the  scaffold.  They  flew  at  once  to 
arms,  fought  heroically,  and  ultimately  saved  themselves 
by  the  reconciliation  of  their  leader  with  the  Church  of 
Rome ;  but  needing  aid  themselves,  could  render  little 
to  their  co-religionists  in  Holland. 

Meantime  the  Prince  of  Parma  was  making  sad  havoc 
in  the  lower  Catholic  portion  of  the  United  Provinces. 
There  it  was  that  the  death  of  the  founder  of  the  repub- 
lic was  most  seriously  felt.  He  had  held  the  general 
union  together  solely  by  his  matchless  skill  in  diplomacy. 
'Now  that  he  was  gone,  it  seemed  in  danger  of  utter  ruin. 
City  after  city  was  captured  or  made  peace  with  Spain. 
Bruges,  Ghent,  Brussels,  and  Mechlin,  all  fell  in  turn, 
and  finally,  in  August,  1585,  Antwerp  was  taken,  after 
a  siege  of  seven  months,  one  of  the  most  memorable  in 
the  history  of  war. 

With  the  fall  of  Antwerp  the  prospects  for  religious 
or  civil  liberty  in  Europe  seemed  very  dark.  In  Germany, 
the  emperor  was  the  nephew  and  brother-in-law  of  Philip, 
and  also  a  strict  Catholic.  The  Protestant  princes  were 
apathetic,  and,  being  Lutherans,  to  them  the  Calvinists 
were  almost  as  obnoxious  as  the  papists.  On  the  south- 
east lay  the  Ottoman  empire,  where  the  Turk,  still  for- 
midable, made  the  nation  tremble  at  each  breath.  Ko 
assistance  could  be  looked  for  from  that  quarter.  How 
little  could  be  expected  from  the  Protestants  of  France 
has  been  already  shown.  Spain  seemed  marching  on  to 
universal  dominion.  In  1580,  she  had  conquered  Portu- 
gal, in  a  campaign  which  Alva  closed  in  less  than  two 


260         THE  PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

months.  This  conquest  nearly  doubled  her  power.  While 
she  had  been  winning  possessions  in  the  New  World,  her 
neighbor  had  been  acquiring  even  more  valuable  ones  in 
Africa,  India,  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Though  less 
in  extent,  the  Portuguese  settlements  brought  in  more 
wealth  than  the  colonies  of  Spain.  All  these  possessions 
Alva's  sword  had  transferred  to  Philip,  and  with  them 
the  only  navy  that  as  yet  rivalled  his  own.  He  now 
claimed  the  mastery  of  the  Pacific  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Mediterranean. 

And  where  was  England,  Protestant  England,  all  this 
time?  Where  was  the  great  queen  who  should  have 
been,  as  she  has  been  styled,  the  defender  of  Protestant- 
ism  in  Europe  ?  The  question  as  to  the  position  of  Eng- 
land will  be  discussed  in  some  subsequent  chapters.  That 
relating  to  Elizabeth  can  be  briefly  answered.  Through- 
out the  whole  struggle  she  had  been  trying  simply  to 
save  herself.  Men  have  often  died  for  a  cause ;  she  was 
willing  that  any  cause  should  die  for  her.  At  the  dark- 
est hour  of  the  contest,  when  Alva  had  subdued  all  the 
ITetherland  provinces,  except  part  of  Holland  and  Zee- 
land,  and  William  of  Orange  was  almost  in  despair,  she 
had  bent  all  her  energies  to  prevent  him  from  obtaining 
aid  from  France,  lest  that  power  should  gain  too  great 
strength.  Again,  when  Requesens  came  on  the  scene 
with  his  policy  of  reconciliation,  based  on  a  restoration 
of  civil  liberty  provided  the  rebels  w^ould  give  up  the 
religious  question,  she  had  used  all  her  influence  to  have 
his  terms  accepted.  Such  a  peace  would  have  benefited 
her  commerce,  and  she  could  not  understand  why  these 
obstinate  Dutchmen  should  stand  out  for  what  seemed 
to  her  the  merest  trifle,  simply  the  right  to  worship  God 
as  they  saw  fit.  She  had  no  sympathy  and  no  patience 
with  such  sentiments.     To  her  the  conduct  of  William 


ELIZABETH   AND   PROTESTANT   ENGLAND  261 

of  Orange  and  his  compatriots  was  as  incomprehensible 
as  the  bigotry  of  Philip. 

For  twenty-seven  years  Elizabeth  had  now  kept  the 
throne.  Enemies  surrounded  her  on  every  side,  but  she 
had  secured  peace  for  the  kingdom  and  safety  for  her- 
self. "  1^0  war,  no  war,"  she  cried  to  her  ministers,  and 
generally  evaded  it  through  the  complications  between 
France  and  Spain  by  some  piece  of  feminine  dujDlicity. 
The  rehgious  question  gave  her  the  most  trouble.  Here 
her  motto  was,  "  Xo  zeal."  On  the  one  side  stood  the 
great  majority  of  her  subjects,  not  sentimentally  zealous 
to  be  sure,  but  still  imbued  with  Catholic  traditions.  On 
the  other  side  was  arrayed  a  rapidly  growing  class  of 
Eeformers,  believing  in  the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  and  re- 
garding the  practices  of  the  Eomish  Church  as  no  better 
than  idolatry.  Her  sympathies  were  with  the  former, 
but  her  main  object  had  been  to  keep  control  of  the  situ- 
ation and  prevent  the  committal  of  England  to  either 
side.  Thus  far  she  had  succeeded  in  maintaining  a  pol- 
icy of  indifference ;  but  in  spite  of  all  her  efforts,  and 
notwithstanding  her  own  want  of  religious  convictions, 
events  were  marching  on  which  compelled  a  more  de- 
cided stand.  As  these  events  were  to  force  England  into 
the  contest  with  Spain,  and  to  bring  about  the  relations 
with  the  ^Netherlands  which  were  to  prove  so  |)otent  in 
their  influence  both  upon  England  and  America,  we  may 
well  pause  here  to  consider  with  some  care  what  kind  of 
a  land  England  was,  and  by  what  kind  of  a  people  it 
was  inhabited,  three  centuries  ago.  Thus  only  shall  we 
comprehend  the  history  and  the  character  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  Puritans  to  whom  this  period  gave 
birth. 


CHAPTER  V 

ENGLAND   BEFORE   ELIZABETH 

The  preceding  pages  have  been  devoted  mainly  to  the 
affairs  of  the  JSTetherlanders.  I  have  attempted  to  sketch 
the  progress  of  their  civihzation,  and  to  show  the  nature 
of  the  conflict  which  they  were  waging  against  the 
mightiest  power  on  the  globe.  It  is  now  time  to  direct 
our  eyes  across  the  Channel,  and  to  inquire  into  the  con- 
dition of  England  and  her  people  when  these  Puritans 
of  Holland,  fighting  for  civil  and  religious  liberty,  were 
to  broaden  the  field  of  conflict  by  taking  in  their  neigh- 
bors. To  this  subject,  therefore,  the  attention  of  the 
reader  is  invited.  Following  the  method  adopted  with 
relation  to  the  ISTetherlands,  I  shall  first  discuss  the  in- 
fluences which  made  the  England  of  this  age,  and  shall 
then,  in  subsequent  chapters,  treat  somewhat  in  detail  of 
domestic  life  and  manners,  industrial  pursuits,  private 
and  public  morals,  education,  religion,  the  organization 
of  society,  the  administration  of  justice,  and  such  other 
matters  as  historians,  until  recently,  have  usually  ignored. 
"Wars  and  political  intrigues,  although  important  in  their 
way,  will  here  find  no  more  space  than  is  necessary  to 
elucidate  their  effects  on  the  civilization  of  the  people. 

The  materials  for  this  description  are  ample  enough, 
and  yet  every  writer  who  attempts  to  tell  the  truth 
about  the  Elizabethan  age  must  approach  the  subject 
with  some  diffidence.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  no  easy 
task  to  reproduce,  although  imperfectly,  the  features  of 


DIFFICULTIES    IN    PORTRAYING   ELIZABETHAN   ENGLAND      263 

a  country  or  of  a  people  as  they  appeared  three  centu- 
ries ago,  and  this  difficulty  is  very  much  increased  when 
the  country  is  one  whose  modern  aspect  is  so  familiar  to 
the  reader.  It  is  somewhat  like  describing  the  youthful 
beauty  of  an  old,  wrinkled  grandmother.  Persons  who 
have  never  seen  her  may  imagine  how  she  looked  when 
in  her  teens,  but  you  cannot  persuade  her  little  grand- 
children that  she  ever  danced,  romped,  or  went  around 
without  glasses  and  false  hair. 

In  the  case  of  England  there  is  a  further  difficulty. 
Scarcely  any  old  country  of  modern  times  has  been  al- 
tered so  much  in  its  outward  appearance  in  the  last 
three  centuries,  and  probably  no  people  of  any  age  have 
changed  so  greatly,  in  some  respects,  as  the  English  have 
done  in  the  same  space  of  time.  The  change  has  been 
brought  about  by  the  influences  of  commerce,  manufact- 
ures, and  scientific  agriculture,  all  three  of  which  pur- 
suits were  almost  unknown  to  the  subjects  of  Elizabeth. 
The  modern  Englishman  is  familiar  to  us,  and,  because 
we  know  him  so  well,  we  find  it  almost  impossible  to 
picture  his  ancestors  before  their  devotion  to  modern 
occupations. 

The  final  and  main  difficulty,  in  the  present  case,  lies 
in  the  false  glamour  thrown  around  this  particular  age 
by  the  poet,  novehst,  and  so-called  historian  (made  up  of 
the  other  two  in  varying  proportions),  all  of  whom  are 
carried  away  by  a  very  natural  enthusiasm  over  the 
many-sided  display  of  energy  and  the  marvellous  power 
of  assimilation  which  characterized  this  period.  These 
writers,  to  describe  the  magnificence  of  Elizabeth's  court, 
tell  of  her  three  thousand  gowns  and  numberless  jewels ; 
they  say  little  of  her  council  chamber,  with  its  carpet  of 
hay  or  rushes,  of  her  eating  with  her  fingers,  and  of  the 
practices  by  which  her  jewels  were  obtained.     They  tell 


264        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

how,  on  one  occasion,  she  made  an  address  in  Greek,  but 
refer  hghtly  to  the  fact  that  among  her  nobles  were  men 
who  could  not  read  a  line  of  English.  They  never  tire 
of  describing  the  virtues  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  but  do  not 
always  note  the  depth  of  the  gulf  which  divided  him 
from  most  of  the  other  men  about  the  court.  They 
glory  in  the  piracy  of  Drake,  Hawkins,  Frobisher,  and 
their  associates — piracy  which  all  the  rest  of  the  Avorld 
then  denourfced,  and  which,  if  repeated  now,  England 
would  be  the  first  to  extirpate.  They  cite  the  names  of 
a  few  scholars  to  show  how  learning  flourished  in  this 
age,  forgetful  of  the  multitude  of  scholars  much  more 
advanced  ujDon  the  Continent ;  and  then  point  to  Spenser, 
Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  and  a  host  of  others,  and  ask 
what  more  could  be  desired  of  an  age  which  produced 
such  poets. 

In  answer  to  all  this,  the  historian  can  only  give  the 
facts ;  but  they  are  gathered  from  many  quarters,  all 
confirming  each  other,  and  established  by  unquestion- 
able witnesses.  These  facts  show  that,  in  the  age  of 
Elizabeth,  England,  as  to  most  features  of  general  civili- 
zation, bore  about  the  same  relation  to  the  JSTetherlands 
that  Russia  bears  to-day  to  Western  Europe,  or  that  the 
states  of  Central  America  bear  to  Massachusetts.  This 
is  a  great  pivotal  truth  in  American  and  English  history, 
although  one  which  is  often  overlooked.  Keeping  it  in 
mind,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  understand  how  the  Eng- 
lish Puritans  who  subsequently  emigrated  to  America 
developed  when  brought  into  contact  with  the  Holland- 
ers, while  we  can  also  see  why  their  progress  was  so 
much  arrested.  As  for  those  who  remained  at  home,  the 
question  will  perhaps  appear  of  no  less  importance  when 
we  come  to  see  how  they  were  affected  by  their  neigh- 
bors across  the  Channel. 


POETRY   AND    CIVILIZATION  265 

The  chief  obstacle  to  vieAving  the  EUzabethan  age  in 
its  true  liglit  unquestionably  consists  of  its  literature, 
the  most  brilliant  of  modern  times.  It  is  very  difficult 
for  one  to  realize,  at  first,  that  an  age  could  be  in  many 
respects  but  semi-civilized  which  produced  such  poets 
as  Shakespeare,  Spenser,  and  Ben  Jonson,  and  such  a 
thinker  as  Francis  Bacon.  Still,  this  difficulty  arises 
simply  from  overlooking  the  character  of  the  contribu- 
tions which  these  men  of  genius  furnished  to  the  treas- 
ures of  the  world.  A  little  reflection  will  serve  to  clear 
the  vision. 

Civilization  is  a  fruit  of  very  slow  growth.  Poetry 
does  not  make  it,  nor  are  great  poets  even  a  sign  of  its 
existence.  Looking  at  the  two  masterpieces  of  tlie  world 
which  preceded  the  works  of  Shakespeare,  we  find  one 
produced  in  Greece,  in  an  age  so  early,  and  among  a 
people  so  rude,  that  the  very  personality  of  Homer  has 
been  seriously  questioned ;  while  the  other  was  pro- 
duced in  Italy  long  before  the  revival  of  learning.*  In 
fact,  the  dissemination  of  knowledge,  the  settled  condi- 
tion of  society,  the  respect  for  the  rights  of  others,  and 
the  general  unpicturesqueness,  which  distinguish  a  civ- 
ilized from  a  barbaric  age,  are  not  favorable  to  the  pro- 
duction of  great  poets. 

The  true  poet  is  a  seer ;  one  who  sees,  and  not  one 
who  reasons.  Untrammelled  by  theory,  unembarrassed 
by  the  thoughts  of  others,  he  notes  down  what  he  ob- 
serves in  nature,  in  his  fellows,  in  himself.  The  period 
which  produces  such  men  in  numbers  is  not  a  long  one 
among  nations  making  progress.    Knowledge  checks  the 


*  Dante  was  born  1265;  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Turks,  which  gave  the  great  impetus  to  the  study  of  Greek  litera- 
ture, and  re-civilized  the  world,  occurred  in  1453. 


266         THE   PURITAN   IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

poetic  faculty,  by  developing  other  faculties  more  prac- 
tical in  their  character.  Men  begin  to  study  what  they 
see,  compare  facts,  test  their  observations  by  those  of 
their  fellows,  and  poetry  passes  into  science.  Rude  na- 
tions always  speak  in  figures.  The  North  American  In- 
dian describes  an  aged  man  as  "  an  old  tree  dead  at  the 
top."  His  treaty  with  the  whites  is,  he  says,  "  a  cove- 
nant chain,  first  of  wampum,  then  of  hemp,  and  finally 
of  silver,  thrown  around  a  great  rock."  Little  children 
prattle  in  the  same  fashion;  the  shadows  play  with  them ; 
for  them  the  stars  bloom  out  at  night ;  and  many  a  fond 
parent  can  trace  the  loss  of  a  poet  or  a  painter  to  the 
time  when  the  spelling-book  and  arithmetic  began  to  do 
their  work.'-^  The  poetry  of  the  Elizabethan  age  grew 
out  of  the  fact  that  a  people  who  had  slumbered  for 
ages  were  awakening  into  intellectual  life. 

The  same  causes  which  produced  a  Shakespeare  also 
produced  a  Bacon.  Each  was  a  seer ;  the  one  looked  at 
men  and  nature  with  the  eye  of  a  poet,  the  other  with 
the  eye  of  a  philosopher ;  the  one  saw  the  passions,  pa- 
thos, sentiment,  and  humor  of  life,  the  other  its  practi- 
cal, unromantic  features.  Men  in  England,  before  their 
time,  saw  but  little;  these  great  seers  used  their  eyes 
and  set  down  what  they  saw.  Bacon's  whole  philoso- 
phy turns  on  the   principle,  that  people  shall  see  for 


*  Macaulay,  in  his  essay  on  Milton,  says :  "  Poetry  produces  an 
illusion  on  the  eye  of  the  mind,  as  a  magic  lantern  produces  an  illu- 
sion on  the  eye  of  the  body ;  and,  as  a  magic  lantern  acts  best  in  a 
dark  room,  poetry  effects  its  jjurpose  most  completely  in  a  dark  age. 
.  .  .  We  think  that  as  civilization  advances,  poetry  almost  necessarily 
declines."  He  therefore  concludes  that  Milton  was  greater  as  a 
poet,  not  because  of  his  learning,  but  in  despite  of  it.  For  a  fuller 
and  much  abler  discussicm  of  tte  subject,  see  Taine's  "Snglisli  Lit- 
erature," "  Shakespeare." 


BACON'S  IGNORANCE    OF   SCIENCE  267 

themselves,  and  reason  from  what  they  see  and  not  from 
what  they  imagine  or  have  been  told  by  others.  He 
marks  an  epoch  in  English  thought,  if  England  can  be 
said  to  have  had  any  thought  before  his  time,  but  he 
simply  told  his  countrymen  to  do  what  scientific  men 
upon  the  Continent  had  done  for  generations.  Still, 
with  his  transcendent  genius  he  did  this  better  than  any 
one  before  his  time,  and  hence  his  world-wide  fame.* 

Bacon  was  not  a  learned  man,  knowing  nothing  of  the 
discoveries  of  Kepler,  Galileo,  Harvey,  or  Gilbert.  He  had 
scarcely  any  knowledge  of  geometry ;  in  fact,  was  igno- 
rant of,  and  looked  down  on,  all  mathematics.f  Harvey 
said  of  him  that  he  wrote  about  science  like  a  lord  chan- 
cellor. In  credulity  he  resembled  his  predecessor,  Eoger 
Bacon. :|:  He  even  rejected  the  theory  of  Copernicus, 
and  died  believing  that  the  sun  revolves  around  the 
earth. §  As  Hallam  has  pointed  out,  he  was  more  emi- 
nently the  philosopher  of  human  than  of  general  nat- 
ure.!    This  is  the  province  of  the  poet  and  the  seer. 


*  Stewart's  "Life  of  Reid,"  sec.  2;  Hallam's  "Literature  of  Eu- 
rope," iii.  133. 

t  Hallam,  iii.  127-129.  "  In  mathematical,  astronomical,  and  i^hys- 
ical  knowledge  he  was  far  behind  his  contemporaries." — Humboldt's 
"Cosmos,"  iii.  106  (Loudon,  1851). 

I  Hallam,  i.  89.  "His  natural  history  is  full  of  chimerical  expla- 
nations. Like  tlie  poet,  he  peoples  nature  with  instincts  and  de- 
sires; attributes  to  bodies  an  actual  voracity;  to  the  atmosphere  a 
thirst  for  the  light,  sounds,  odors,  vapors,  which  it  drinks  in ;  to  met- 
als, a  sort  of  haste  to  be  incorjDorated  with  acids." — Taine. 

§  For  an  account  of  Bacon's  ignorance  of  science,  see  also  "  Fran- 
cis Bacon,"  by  Edwin  A.  Abbott  (London,  1885),  pp.  338,  455;  Gar- 
diner's "  History  of  England,"  iii.  394.  As  to  his  Latin,  Abbott,  p. 
452. 

II  Hallam,  iii.  127.  His  "Essays,"  therefore,  gave  him  his  greatest 
literary  fame  in  England. 


268       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Yet  as  a  man  of  science  he  was  far  ahead  of  his  time  in 
Enoiand.*  He  translated  the  works  on  which  he  thought 
his  fame  was  to  rest  into  Latin,  which  he  called  the  uni- 
versal language,  although  he  knew  it  but  imperfectly, 
affirming  that "  English  would  bankrupt  all  our  books." 
"  He  had  so^v n  the  great  seed  in  a  sluggish  soil  and  an 
ungenial  season.  He  had  not  expected  an  early  crop, 
and  in  his  last  testament  had  solemnly  bequeathed  his 
fame  to  the  next  age."t 

As  to  the  mode  in  which  Shakespeare,  as  an  author, 
was  appreciated  by  his  contemporaries  in  England,  the 
following  facts  should  be  borne  in  mind.  In  1623,  Hem- 
minge  and  Condell  published  the  first  complete  collection 
of  his  plays,  only  thirteen  or  fourteen  of  which  had  been 
printed  in  his  lifetime.  But  for  their  efforts  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  his  unpublished  dramas,  some  seventeen 
in  number — among  which  were  "  Julius  Csesar,"  "  The 
Tempest,"  and  "  Macbeth  " — would  have  been  lost  to  the 
world.:}:  Only  one  other  edition  appeared  prior  to  1664, 
50  that  in  forty-eight  j'-ears  after  his  death  but  two  edi- 
tions of  his  works,  probably  not  making  together  a  thou- 
sand copies,  were  given  to  a  public  which  absorbed  sev- 
enteen editions  of  Sidney's  dreary  "  Arcadia."  §  There 
is  no  evidence  that  he  was  known  to  Ealeigh,  Sidney, 
Spenser,  Bacon,  Cecil,  Walsingham,  Coke,  Hooker,  Cam- 
den, Hobbes,  Donne,  Cotton,  or  any  others,  except  a  few 


*  We  should  except  Gilbert,  Hariott,  and  Harvey,  with  Napier  in 
Scotland,  all  of  whom,  however,  had  prosecuted  their  studies  abroad. 
Abbott,  p.  338. 

t  jMacaulay's  "  History  of  England,"  i.  377. 

I  Shakespeare  does  not  mention  his  manuscripts  in  his  will,  and 
seems  to  have  cared  nothing  for  literary  reputation.  His  sole  ambi- 
tion was  to  take  rank  as  a  country  gentleman. 

§  Johnson's  "  Life  of  Milton ;"  Symonds's  "  Sidney,"  p.  74. 


SHAKESPEARE    AND    BACON    IN    ENGLAND  289 

of  his  fellow-craftsmen.*  With  the  decay  of  English 
energy,  after  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  he  was  al- 
most entirely  forgotten. f  In  170 Y,  a  poet  named  Tate 
produced  a  work  called  "  King  Lear,"  the  subject  of 
w^hich,  he  said,  he  had  borrowed  from  an  obscure  piece 
of  the  same  name,  recommended  to  his  notice  by  a  friend. 
This  "  obscure  piece  "  was  Shakespeare's  "  King  Lear." 
At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury complained  of  his  "natural  rudeness,  his  unpolished 
style,  and  his  antiquated  phrase  and  wit."  In  conse- 
quence, he  was  excluded  from  several  collections  of  the 
modern  poets.  In  1T65,  Johnson  gave  him  some  praise, 
and  finally  Garrick,  the  grandson  of  a  Huguenot  refu- 
gee, restored  him  to  the  stage  and  to  the  patriotic  admi- 
ration of  the  English  people.:j:  Since  that  time  German 
criticism  has  done  much  to  give  him  his  present  high 
position. 

Bacon,  as  a  scientist,  did  not  fare  much  better  in  Eng- 
land than  did  Shakespeare  as  a  poet.  Upon  the  Conti- 
nent, where  there  were  men  of  learning,  his  works  met 
with  a  cordial  reception.  The  Latin  treatise  "  De  Aug- 
mentis  "  was  republished  in  France  in  1624,  the  year 
after  its  appearance  in  England,  and  was  translated  into 
French  as  early  as  1632.  Editions  came  out  in  Holland 
in  1645,  1652,  and  1662,  and  one  in  Strasburg  even  ear- 


*  R.  G.  White's  "  Shakespeare,"  p.  185. 

t  Sir  William  Davenant,  poet-laureate  to  Charles  II.,  reproduced 
some  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  but  only  after  a  rewriting  -which  worked 
a  transformation.  "Macbeth,"  for  example,  was  put  on  the  stage, 
"  with  alterations,  additions,  amendments,  new  songs,  machinery  for 
the  witches,  with  dancing  and  singing."  As  rewritten,  it  was  pub- 
lished in  1673.     "  Tlie  Interregnum,"  by  F.  A.  Inderwick,  p.  265. 

I  Guizot's  "  Shakespeare,"  p.  122.  In  the  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  Gold- 
smith shows  how  little  he  thought  of  the  Shakespearian  revival. 


270        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

Her,  in  1635.  In  England,  only  one  edition  in  Latin  ap- 
peared after  the  first — namely,  in  1638 — followed  by  an 
indifferent  translation  in  1640.  The  "ITovum  Orffa- 
num  "  Avas  thrice  printed  in  Holland,  in  1645,  1650,  and 
1660.  In  England  it  never  came  separately  from  the 
press.  King  James  said  of  it,  "that  it  was  like  the 
peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding."  'No  edi- 
tion of  his  works  as  a  whole  was  published  in  England 
before  1730,  but  one  appeared  at  Frankfort  in  1665.* 

In  studying  the  great  literary  lights  of  the  Elizabethan 
age,  one  may  recall  his  experience  in  witnessing  a  sun- 
rise in  the  Alps.  He  rises  hastily,  throws  on  his  clothes, 
and  takes  his  stand.  Looking  far  away,  the  clouds  and 
distant  peaks  are  first  tinged  with  pink,  then  bathed  in 
glory.  Down  creeps  the  golden  flame,  the  lofty  trees 
are  all  on  fire,  and  even  the  shrubs  are  priceless  coral. 
So  the  transformation  scene  goes  on,  until  the  lowest 
valleys  are  resurrected  from  their  darkness.  Eapt  in  the 
contemplation  of  a  miracle,  one  forgets  how  early  is  the 
morning.  But  when  the  day  has  fairly  broken,  when 
the  pink  and  gold  have  disappeared,  and  all  the  land- 
scape lies  in  common  sunlight,  the  traveller  feels  the 
chill,  and,  retiring  to  his  blankets,  waits  for  warmth  and 
comfort  until  the  sun  has  travelled  farther  on  its  course. 
What  the  sunrise  is  to  noon,  what  the  first  crop  upon 
the  prairie  is  to  the  fruit  of  scientific  agriculture,  that  is 
poetry  to  civilization.f 


*  Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  iii.  131, 132. 

t  Perhaps  no  one  has  discussed  this  subject  more  ably  and  inci- 
sively than  Matthew  Arnold.  "  Genius  is  mainly  an  affair  of  energy," 
he  says,  "  and  poetry  is  mainly  an  affair  of  genius ;  therefore,  a  nation 
whose  spirit  is  characterized  by  energy  may  well  be  eminent  in 
poetry,  .  .  .  and  we  have  Shakespeare."     Again :  "  We  have  con- 


PECULIAR    FEATURES    OF    ENGLISH    HISTORY  271 

To  understand  the  English  people  of  the  time  of  Eliz- 
abeth, we  must  know  something  of  their  antecedents ; 
for,  like  all  other  nations,  they  were  an  evolution  from 
the  past,  shaped  by  race  and  natural  environment.  Here, 
therefore,  I  shall  ask  the  reader's  patience  while  I  call 
attention  to  some  facts  in  their  prior  history  which  seem 
to  me  to  bear  a  construction  rather  different  from  that 
usually  placed  upon  them.  This  history  has  very  pecul- 
iar features,  in  the  disregard  of  which  we  can  find  the 
explanation  of  many  popular  misconceptions  as  to  the 
Elizabethan  age,  and  as  to  the  origin  and  character  of 
the  new  life  which  that  age  developed. 

Taking  any  point  in  civilization,  one  is  apt  to  think  of 
the  approach  to  it  as  if  it  were  a  gradual  ascent.  This 
has  been  the  case  in  the  history  of  the  ISTetherlands,  in 
the  brief  story  of  America — with  but  a  slight  exception 
in  ISTew  England  after  the  death  of  the  first  Puritan 
settlers — and  it  was  true  of  classic  Greece  and  Rome, 
until  the  period  of  their  decline.  Our  school  histories  of 
England  sometimes  leave  the  impression  that  such  was 
the  course  of  progress  there ;  certain  important  events 
and  certain  leading  characters  stand  out  upon  the  record, 


fesseclly  a  very  great  literature.  It  still  remains  to  be  asked  :  "  '  What 
sort  of  a  great  literature  ?  A  literature  great  in  the  special  qual- 
ities of  genius,  or  great  in  the  special  qualities  of  intelligence  ?'  '* 
He  answers  the  question  by  showing  that  the  literature  of  genius, 
"  stretching  from  IMarlow  to  Milton,"  led  up  to  "  our  provincial  and 
second-hand  literature  of  the  eighteenth  century."  The  energy  had 
died  out.  When  it  appeared  again  in  the  days  of  the  ISTapoleonic 
wars,  the  literature  of  genius  also  reappeared.  On  the  otiier  hand, 
France  had  a  literature  of  intelligence  developed  in  prose,  which  led 
up  to  "  the  French  literature  of  the  eighteenth  century — one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  persuasive  intellectual  agencies  that  have  ever  ex- 
isted, the  greatest  European  force  of  the  eighteenth  century." — "The 
Literary  Influence  of  Academies,"  "  Essays  in  Criticism,"  pp.  47-50. 


272       THE    PUraTAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

•and  we  are  left  to  think  of  them  as  landmarks  on  a 
highway,  instead  of  mere  beacon  lights  flashing  from 
isolated  mountain-peaks.  For  example,  we  have  glow- 
ing descriptions  of  civilization  in  Britain  under  the  Ro- 
man rule.  As  to  Anglo-Saxon  times,  we  are  told  of  the 
"  Yenerable  Bede,"  and  his  famous  school  at  J  arrow ; 
of  Alcuin,  John  Scotus,  the  learned  King  Alfred,  and  his 
establishment  of  Oxford  University — the  last,  however, 
a  myth.  Under  the  JSTormans,  we  hear  of  the  superb 
cathedrals,  Oxford  with  its  thirty  thousand  students — 
another  myth ;  Magna  Charta,  and  the  learning  of 
Roger  Bacon.  Still  later  on,  we  read  of  the  poetry  of 
Chaucer,  hear  of  Wyclif  and  his  Bible,  Sir  Thomas  More 
and  the  Oxford  Reformers,  and  finally  of  the  glorious 
age  of  Elizabeth,  with  its  world-renowned  poets,  states- 
men, and  men  of  action. 

Glancing  simply  from  one  of  these  events  or  individ- 
uals to  another,  or  even  following  the  panegyrists  of 
the  English  Constitution,  one  might  imagine  a  people 
steadily  rising  in  civilization  until  they  had  reached  their 
present  stage  of  development.  But  in  this  respect  the 
experience  of  England  is  almost  unique  in  the  history  of 
nations.  To  follow  her  career  is  not  to  ascend  the  side 
of  a  single  mountain,  but  to  cross  a  series  of  mountain 
chains  separated  by  valleys  nearly  as  deep  and  dark  as 
that  from  which  one  makes  the  first  ascent.  Comparing 
it  to  a  stream,  it  resembles  a  river  flowing  through  a 
prairie  country,  Avhich  twists  and  curves,  returning  on 
its  track,  so  that  after  following  it  for  scores  of  miles 
the  traveller  finds  himself  no  nearer  to  the  sea. 

The  truth  of  this  statement  will  be  seen  by  any  one 
who  runs  over  the  course  of  Enghsh  history  prior  to  the 
Reformation.  Why  it  should  be  so  is  the  important 
question.     Why  should  a  people,  living  on  an  island  by 


MODERN    niSTOKIANS   AKD    THE   ANGLO-SAXONS  273 

themselves,  be  subject  to  great  tidal  AYaves  of  progress  ? 
And  why  did  the  receding  wave  bring  them  back  and 
leave  them  stranded  on  the  shore  ? 

There  is  a  tendency  among  some  English  historians 
to  represent  the  Englishman  as  of  almost  pure  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood,  and  to  trace  his  progress  to  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  influence.*  If  this  were  so,  we  might  expect 
that  steady  and  gradual  advance  in  civilization  the  ab- 
sence of  which  is  so  marked  a  feature  of  English  history. 
Just  the  reverse  appears  to  be  the  truth,  and  here  is  the 
key  to  many  perplexing  problems. 

The  people,  to  be  sure,  are  mostly  of  Anglo-Saxon 
origin,  and  this  has  given  them  their  sturdy  character ; 
but  they  have  received  foreign  accessions  from  time  to 


*  The  great  impetus  in  this  direction  has  been  given  by  German 
writers,  who  liave  devoted  more  attention  to  the  study  of  early  Eng- 
lish history  than  the  English  themselves.  See  Gneist's  "Hist,  of  the 
English  Constitution,"  j9assi}?!.,  for  an  account  of  German  books  on 
English  institutions.  These  writers,  in  addition  to  the  fact  that 
they  sometimes  use  the  microscope  too  much,  are  naturally  inclined 
to  magnify  the  Germanic  influence,  and  have  perhaps  unduly  affected 
their  English  disciples.  In  regard  to  Gneist's  history,  in  particular, 
to  which  I  shall  refer  frequently  hereafter,  another  fact  must  be  kept 
in  mind.  As  he  states  in  his  preface,  he  is  deeply  interested  in  po- 
litical matters,  and  for  years  has  been  writing  history  for  political 
purposes.  Opposed  to  republics,  he  sees  his  ideal  of  a  state  in  the 
former  strong  monarchy  of  England,  holding  it  up  to  his  country- 
men as  a  model  of  a  government  developed  on  Germanic  lines. 
With  such  objects  in  view,  the  conclusions  of  a  writer  may  well  be 
questioned,  however  valuable  his  facts.  Since  these  pages  were 
written,  an  able  Frenchman  has  published  a  little  book  on  the 
"English  Constitution,"  the  preface  to  which  contains  some  very  ju- 
dicious remarks  on  the  modern  tendency  to  exaggerate  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  element  in  the  development  of  English  institutions.  "  The 
English  Constitution,"  by  ]5mile  Boutmy  (translation,  Macmillan 
&  Co.,  1891). 

I.— 18 


274       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    A:MERICA 

time,  and  to  these  accessions  we  can  trace  their  waves 
of  progress.  Following  back  the  institutions  which  are 
England's  boast,  such  as  her  parliament,  trial  by  jury, 
and  her  judicial  system,  we  find  them  derived,  not  from 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  from  the  Normans,  who  were 
French  by  domicile,  and  cosmopolitan  by  education. 
Looking  carefully  at  the  lives  of  the  great  men  who 
stand  out  like  beacon  lights  on  her  early  historic  page, 
we  find  them  to  have  been  moulded  by  a  foreign  in- 
fluence and  taught  by  foreign  masters.  The  most  brill- 
iant epoch  in  her  early  history,  that  Avhich  witnessed 
the  erection  of  her  cathedrals  and  the  founding  of  her 
universities,  was  the  one  in  which  she  was  under  a  for- 
eign domination.  When,  finally,  the  ISTormans  had  been 
absorbed  and  the  intimate  connection  with  the  Continent 
broken  off,  the  foreign  influence  died  out.  Then,  as 
the  old  rude  Anglo-Saxon  element  regained  the  mastery 
the  people  very  rapidly  went  down.  About  the  time 
of  Elizabeth  they  had  reached  their  lowest  depth,  from 
which  they  emerged  only  when  brought  again  into  touch 
with  the  elder  civilization  of  the  Continent,  especially 
that  developed  in  the  JSTetherland  Eepublic.  Let  us  now 
for  our  proof  take  a  hasty  review  of  this  early  history — 
a  review  which  will  perhaps  prepare  the  way  for  a  clearer 
appreciation  of  the  mode  in  which  these  foreign  influ- 
ences were  exerted  at  a  later  day.* 

When  we  first  hear  of  Britain,  it  was  occupied  by  a 
people  who  had  probably  crossed  the  Channel  from  Gaul. 
They  belonged  to  the  great  Celtic  race,  which,  pouring 
out  from  Scythia  in  Asia,  had  swept  over  the  whole  of 


*  In  the  following  summary  I  shall  refer  mainly  to  modern  Eng- 
lish or  German  writers,  who  will  hardly  he  suspected  of  want  of  par- 
tiality for  their  ancestors  or  Germanic  kindred. 


KOMAN   CIVILIZATION    IN    BRITAIN  275 

Northern  and  "Western  Europe.  Those  who  crossed  to 
Britain  were  closely  connected  with  the  Belgse,  whom 
Caesar  found  in  the  lower  ISTetherlands.  The  early  set- 
tlers were  probably  pressed  north  by  new-comers,  and  so 
passed  into  Wales  and  Scotland,  and  thence  across  the 
narrow  sea  to  Ireland.* 

First  attacked  by  Caesar  and  his  legions,  the  Britons 
were  a  century  later  conquered  by  the  Eomans,  and  the 
whole  lower  portion  of  the  island  was  held  by  the  con- 
querors for  about  three  centuries  and  a  half.  Macaulay, 
in  his  history,  states  that  Britain  "  received  only  a  faint 
tincture  of  Eoman  arts  and  letters,"  but  the  results  of 
investigations  carried  on  since  his  time  tell  a  very  dif- 
ferent story.f  The  island  was  studded  with  peopled 
cities,  and  the  open  country  dotted  over  with  the  luxu- 
rious mansions  of  the  great  land-owners,  built  of  stone, 
and  heated  with  furnaces.  The  ruins  of  some  of  these 
mansions  have  been  discovered,  which  show  what  prog- 
ress had  been  made  in  art.  "  Every  colonnade  and  pas- 
sage had  its  tessellated  pavement ;  marble  statues  stood 


*  "  The  Pedigree  of  the  English  People,"  Thomas  Nicholas  (sec- 
ond edition,  1868),  p.  48. 

t  "  The  Roman  civilization  had  been  completely  introduced,  mil- 
itary roads  had  been  constructed  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other,  and  vast  works  of  public  utility  and  ornament  had  been  com- 
pleted. The  bridges,  gardens,  baths,  and  villas  of  Rome  had  been 
reproduced  in  Britain,  and  all  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  the  imperial 
court  made  familiar  to  our  forefathers." — Nicholas,  "  Pedigree  of  the 
English  People,"  p.  104.  Says  Palgrave  :  "The  country  was  replete 
with  the  monuments  of  Roman  magnificence  ;  Malmesbury  appeals 
to  those  stately  ruins  which  still  remained  in  his  time,  the  twelfth 
century,  as  testimonies  of  the  favor  which  Britain  had  enjoyed ;  the 
towns,  the  temples,  the  theatres,  and  the  baths  .  .  .  excited  the  won- 
der and  the  admiration  of  the  chronicler  and  the  traveller." — Pal- 
grave, i.  333. 


276       THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

out  from  their  gayly  painted  walls ;  while  pictures  of 
Orpheus  and  Pan  gleamed  from  amid  the  fanciful  scroll- 
work and  fretwork  of  its  mosaic  floors."  *  Commerce, 
too,  had  arisen.  The  harvests  became  so  abundant  that 
Britain  at  times  supplied  the  necessities  of  Gaul.  Pot- 
teries were  established,  which  turned  out  work  of  great 
artistic  beauty.f  Tin-mines  were  worked  in  Cornwall, 
lead-mines  in  Somerset  and  Northumberland,  and  iron- 
mines  in  the  Forest  of  Dean.:}:  In  addition  to  all  this, 
Home  became  Christianized,  and  conferred  upon  Britain 
her  religion,  as  well  as  her  arts,  her  military  system,  and 
her  laws.  British  churches  arose  over  all  the  land  to 
take  the  place  of  the  pagan  temples ;  or,  as  in  other 
parts  of  Europe,  the  buildings  erected  to  the  divinities 
of  ancient  Rome  were  dedicated  to  the  rites  of  the  new 
national  religion. 

Such,  in  faint  outline,  was  the  condition  of  Britain 
before  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians  whom  we  call 
Anglo-Saxons,  and  who  transformed  it  into  England. 
To  the  antiquarian,  it  must  be  a  fascinating  work  to 
explore  the  old  ruins,  and  unearth  the  unquestionable 
evidence  of  this  former  glory.  But  to  the  historian  of 
England  who  seeks  to  trace  the  progress  of  her  people, 
the  growth  of  her  institutions,  and  the  development  of 
the  national  character,  all  this  story  is  unimportant,  for 
every  vestige  of  the  former  civilization  was  wiped  out 
by  the  pagan  conquerors.    To  the  student  of  Continental 


*  Green's  "Making  of  England,"  chap.  iii.  etc. 

f  The  Roman  pottery  found  in  the  New  Forest,  -where  its  manu- 
facture was  extensively  carried  on,  surpasses,  artistically,  anything 
since  produced  in  England.  "  The  New  Forest,"  p.  325  (London, 
1880,  John  R.Wise). 

I  Green,  Introduction  and  chap.  v. 


EOMAN  CIVILIZATION  EXTINGUISHED  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS    277 

history,  and.  for  our  purposes,  however,  it  is  of  great  im- 
portance. Britain  vv^as  a  very  distant  province.  There 
was  nothing  in  its  situation,  resources,  or  inhabitants 
which  would  entitle  it  to  the  special  favor  of  Rome.  If, 
therefore,  it  profited  for  a  time  so  largely  from  the  Eo- 
man  domination,  one  can  conceive  what  must  have  been 
the  effect  of  this  same  influence  upon  the  provinces  near- 
er home,  where,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter, 
the  Roman  civilization  was  not  extinguished.* 

Having  climbed  a  mountain-top,  we  are  now  to  de- 
scend into  a  valley  as  deep  and  dark  as  can  be  well  im- 
agined. In  411  the  Roman  legions  are  recalled  from 
Britain,  in  consequence  of  the  irruption  of  the  Goths  un- 
der Alaric.  Returning  temporarily,  they  finally  aban- 
don the  country  in  427,  and  the  people  are  left  to  fight 
alone  against  their  own  enemies,  the  Picts  and  Scots. 
Powerless  against  such  foes,  they  call  to  their  aid  the 
corsairs  who  had  threatened  their  coast  for  generations. 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  with  their  allies — Saxons,  Angles, 
Jutes,  and  Frisians,  all  Low-Dutch  tribes — repel  the  en- 
emy from  the  Korth,  but  conquer  the  island  for  them- 
selves, and  give  it  the  modern  name  of  England.  The 
process  of  conquest  was  a  slow  one,  and  this  explains  its 
character,  for  the  Britons  made  a  stout  resistance,  re- 
treating only  step  by  step.  Thus,  a  century  and  a  half 
were  needed  for  the  work,  but  it  was  done  with  Anglo- 


*  Speaking  of  Italy,  Freeman  says :  "  No  vulgar  error  is  more  ut- 
terly groundless  til  an  that  which  looks  on  the  Goths  and  other  Teuton- 
ic settlers  as  wilful  destroyers  of  Roman  buildings  or  of  other  works 
of  Roman  skill.  Far  from  so  doing,  they  admired,  they  preserved, 
and,  so  far  as  the  decaying  art  of  the  time  allowed,  they  imitated 
them." — "  Origin  of  the  English  Nation,"  lecture  of  Jan.  5th,  1870, 
at  Kingston-on-Hull,  published  in  Macmillaii's  Magazine. 


278         THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

Saxon  thoroughness.  In  the  end,  every  vestige  of  the 
ancient  civihzation  was  extinguished  ;  the  towns  were 
depopulated  and  laid  waste ;  the  mines  were  closed  for 
ages;  the  villas  reduced  to  ruins;  Christianity  was  blot- 
ted out,  and  the  whole  country  made  a  desolation.  The 
island  was  again  a  barbaric  pagan  land.'- 

English  historians  naturally  dwell  on  the  bright  aspect 
of  this  conquest — the  introduction  of  liberal  institutions, 
the  free  barbaric  blood,  and  the  general  love  of  freedom 
which  animated  the  new-comers.  But  we  must  remem- 
ber that,  in  the  growth  of  nations,  we  find  at  the  bottom, 
as  at  the  top,  the  idea  of  personal  independence.  When 
we  compare  the  history  of  this  people  with  that  of  the 
ISTetherlanders,  who,  although  of  the  same  blood,  assimi- 
lated the  civilization  of  ancient  Kome,  we  can  judge  how 
much  institutions  can  accomplish  for  society  while  it  is 
passing  through  the  intermediate  stages. 

What  manner  of  people  these  new-comers  were  can  be 
gathered  from  various  sources.  To  the  Eomans,  all  the 
men  who  conquered  Britain  and  founded  England  were 
known  under  the  common  name  of  Saxons,  and  the  Ro- 
man provincials  distinguished  them  from  the  other  tribes 
who  were  attacking  the  empire  by  their  thirst  for  blood 
and  disregard  for  human  suffering.  While  men  noted 
in  the  Frank  his  want  of  faith,  in  the  Alan  his  greed,  in 
the  Hun  his  shamelessness,  what  they  noted  in  the  Saxon 
was  his  savage  cruelty.  Dwelling  upon  the  Continent, 
the  main  aim  of  their  pirate  raids  was  man-hunting,  and 
it  had  with  them  a  feature  of  peculiar  horror.  Before 
setting  sail  from  the  hostile  country  which  they  had  at- 
tacked, their  custom  was  to  devote  one  man  out  of  each 


*  See  "  Lectures  of  Freeman,"  cited  above,  and  Green's  "  Making 
of  England." 


THE   ANGLO-SAXON    BARBARIANS  279 

ten  of  their  captives  to  a  death  by  slow  and  painiul 
torture.*  "  Foes  are  they,"  sang  a  Roman  poet  of  the 
time,  "fierce  beyond  other  foes,  and  cunning  as  they 
are  fierce ;  the  sea  is  their  school  of  war,  and  the  storm 
their  friend ;  they  are  sea- wolves  that  live  on  the  pillage 
of  the  world."  f  A  century  after  their  landing  in  Eng- 
land, the  Britons  knew  them  onl}^  as  "  barbarians," 
"  wolves,"  "  dogs,"  "  whelps  from  the  kennels  of  barba- 
rism," "hateful  to  God  and  man.":|: 

Transplanted  into  England,  they  did  not  change  their 
nature.  Having  passed  over  the  land  like  a  tempest  of 
fire,  burned  the  churches,  murdered  the  priests  at  the 
altar,  and  blotted  out  all  civilization,  they  settled  down 
to  enjoyment.  Divided  into  a  large  number  of  petty 
tribal  kingdoms,  domestic  wars  became  innumerable.g 
For  very  many  years  their  history  is,  as  described  by 
Milton,  little  more  than  the  battles  of  kites  and  crows. H 
In  time  there  come  intervals  of  peace.  The  smaller 
tribes  are  swallowed  by  the  larger ;  little  kingdoms  ap- 
pear ;  a  rude  form  of  law  and  order  is  established ;  and, 
finally,  early  in  the  ninth  century,  Aegberht,  who  had 
been  brought  up  at  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  subdues 
the  whole  island  south  of  the  Humber,  and  the  king- 
dom of  the  Anglo-Saxons  first  takes  its  place  among  the 
states  of  Europe.^" 

Meanwhile  great  social  changes  have  affected  the  in- 


*  Greeu's  "History  of  the  English  People,"  vol.  i. 

t  Idem.  I  Idem,  p.  48. 

§  Gneist,  " History  of  the  English  Constitution"  (trans.  London, 
1886),  i.  40. 

II  The  aim  of  life,  says  Taine,  "  was  not  to  be  slain,  ransomed,  mu- 
tilated, pillaged,  hung,  and,  of  course,  if  it  were  a  woman,  violated." 
— "  English  Literature." 

IT  Gneist,  i.  42. 


280       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   A:\IERICA 

lierited  freedom  of  the  people.  When  the  barbarians 
landed  in  Britain  they  were  substantially  free,  for  their 
rulers  were  elected  by  all  the  freemen.  War  and  a  set- 
tled residence  beget  the  king.*  By  the  time  of  Alfred, 
he  had  become  the  "  Lord's  Anointed,"  invested  with  a 
mysterious  dignity.f  Treason  against  him  was  punished 
with  death,  and  he  was  the  fountain  of  honor.  The 
king,  from  among  his  comrades,  created  a  new  order  of 
nobility,  whose  members  gradually  supplanted  the  old 
chiefs.  Much  of  the  land  was  in  early  days  held  in  ^ 
common;  it  was  now  carved  out  into  estates  for  the 
king's  dependants.  Thus  the  freedom  of  the  peasant 
passed  away.  His  freehold  was  surrendered  to  be  re- 
ceived back  as  a  fief,  laden  with  services  to  its  lord,  for 
in  Alfred's  day  it  was  assumed  that  no  man  could  exist 
without  a  lord. 

Gradually,  as  the  kingdoms  increased  in  size,  the  share 
of  the  freemen  in  all  public  affairs  was  greatly  dimin- 
ished. There  was  no  election  of  delegates  to  national 
or  local  assemblies,  as  in  later  times ;  each  man  had  to 
appear  and  vote  in  person.  Theoretically,  there  was  a 
great  assembly  of  the  people,  in  which  resided  all  ulti- 
mate authority — the  higher  justice,  imposition  of  taxes, 
framing  of  laws,  the  conclusion  of  treaties,  the  division 
of  the  public  lands,  and  the  appointment  of  the  chief  of- 
fices of  state.  "  Practically,  the  national  council  shrank 
into  a  gathering  of  the  great  officers  of  Church  and  State 
with  the  royal  thegns,  and  the  old  English  democracy 

*  Kingship  appears  among  the  English  at  a  time  when  it  was  un- 
known among  the  Continental  races  to  whom  thej' were  most  closely 
related.     Gneist,  i.  14. 

t  Alfred,  wlien  a  boy,  went  to  Rome,  and  was  anointed  by  the 
pope.  Ranke's  "History  of  England,"  1.  20.  Other  kings  had  been 
anointed,  however,  before  his  time. 


SLAVERY— RECONVERSION    OB'    ENGLAND  281 

passed  into  an  oligarchy  of  the  closest  kind."*  These 
people  are  simply  entering  upon  the  first  stage  of  civili- 
zation. 

The  wars  and  a  settled  residence  also  gave  a  great  im- 
petus to  slavery.  No  rank  saved  the  prisoner  taken  in 
battle  from  this  doom ;  and  the  markets  of  the  world,  as 
far  as  Kome,  were  filled  with  slaves  from  England.  Debt 
and  crime  also  swelled  the  ranks  of  the  unfree.  Fathers 
sold  their  children,  husbands  their  wives.  The  master 
could  slay  his  chattel ;  it  was  only  the  loss  of  a  thing. 
Fleeing  from  bondage,  he  might  be  chased  as  a  strayed 
beast,  and  flogged  to  death  if  a  man,  or  burned  if  a  wom- 
an.f  The  progress  of  Christianity  produced  a  little  ame- 
lioration of  his  state.  One  bishop  denied  Christian  bur- 
ial to  kidnappers,  and  prohibited  the  sale  of  children  by 
their  parents  after  the  age  of  seven.  Another  punished 
Avith  excommunication  the  sale  of  child  or  kinsfolk. 
Many  owners  manumitted  their  slaves,  and  the  slave- 
trade  from  English  ports  was  finally,  in  the  tenth  centu- 
ry, prohibited  by  law.  This  prohibition,  however,  for  a 
long  time  remained  inefi'ective.  Until  the  Conquest  the 
wealth  of  English  nobles  was  said  sometimes  to  spring 
from  breeding  slaves  for  market.  It  was  not  until  the 
reign  of  the  first  ]S[orman  king  that  the  trafiic  was  finally 
suppressed.:}: 

Across  this  dark  and  dreary  waste  we  can  here  and 
there  catch  glimpses  of  sunshine,  although  fitful  and 
evanescent.  A  young  deacon  named  Gregory  sees  in 
Eome  some  English  slaves  exposed  for  sale.  He  be- 
comes interested  in  the  far-distant  island,  whose  people 


*  Green's  "  Short  H-istory,"  pp.  89,  90,  91.     Gneist,  i.  101-108. 

t  Green,  p.  50. 

I  Idem,  p.  89.     "  Life  of  Bishop  Wolstan,"  cited  by  Taine. 


283        THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

once  were  servants  of  the  Church,  and  when  elected 
pope  sends  Augustine  Avith  forty  comrades  to  effect  its 
reconversion.  One  of  the  petty  kings  has  married  a 
Christian  from  France,  and  this  helps  on  the  work. 
Augustine  arrives  in  597,  but  in  the  end  actuall}^  ac- 
complished little.  The  real  conversion  of  England  came 
from  Ireland,  where  Christianity  had  not  been  blotted 
out  by  the  Saxons,  and  where  piety  and  learning  had 
fixed  their  home.'"*  Naturally  the  conversion  of  the 
masses  did  not  at  first  go  very  deep.  They  became 
Christians  after  the  type  of  Clovis  across  the  Channel, 
who,  having  witnessed  the  Passion  Play,  cries  out, 
"Why  was  I  not  there  with  my  Franks?"  As  we  see 
through  all  their  literature,  the  gospel  of  love,  the  teach- 
ings of  the  ISTew  Testament,  made  no  more  impression 
on  their  minds  than  on  those  of  their  descendants  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  to  whom  the  Bible 
came  again  as  a  revelation.  They  were  all  equally  at- 
tracted more  by  the  Old  Testament,  with  its  wars,  mas- 
sacres, and  tales  of  blood  and  vengeance. 

Still,  the  very  fact  of  belonging  to  the  Church  of  the 
world  had  its  effect ;  it  brought  the  island  into  contact 
with  the  old  civilization  of  the  Continent,  and  the  con- 
nection bore  some  fruit.f  In  668,  a  Greek  monk,  Theo- 
dore of  Tarsus,  arrives  from  Kome,  is  made  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  the  English  Church  of  to-day,  so  far 


*  Green's  "  Sliort  History,"  p.  58.  In  the  times  of  Tacitus  the  ports 
and  harbors  of  Ireland  were  better  known  to  the  Romans  than  tliose 
of  Britain,  from  the  concourse  of  merchants  there  for  purposes  of 
trade.     "Life  of  Agricola,"  sec.  24. 

t  Gneist  pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church  for  its  early 
work,  while  showing  how,  in  later  days,  it  fell  into  rudeness  and  sen- 
suality, i.  85-87,  note.  Before  the  Norman  Conquest  it  had  acquired 
about  one  third  of  the  property  of  the  kingdom,  p.  110. 


THE    VENERABLE    BEDE— THE    DANES— KING    ALFRED  283 

as  its  outer  form  is  concerned,  becomes  the  work  of  his 
hands.*  A  school  is  established,  which  the  Venerable 
Bede  attends,  where  he  learns  Greek,  for  the  first  time 
tauD'ht  in  Eng'land,  and  with  it  imbibes  a  taste  for  sci- 
ence  and  letters.  Bede  passes  his  life  at  the  monastery 
of  Jarrow,  gathers  six  hundred  pupils  about  him,  be- 
comes, as  Burke  calls  him,  "  the  father  of  English  liter- 
ature," and  dies  in  Y55,  translating  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John  into  the  vernacular.  But  upon  his  death  the  king- 
dom of  Northumbria,  in  which  he  lived,  is  desolated  by 
incessant  wars,  the  land  is  laid  waste,  his  scholars  are 
dispersed,  and  nothing  is  left  of  his  work  but  the  forty- 
five  volumes  which  attest  his  industry,  and  a  name  which 
glorifies  his  age.f 

Later  on,  in  800,  just  as  the  English  are  becoming  one 
nation,:]:  the  Danes  come  in,  as  utterly  heathen  and  as 
savage  and  ferocious  as  the  followers  of  Hengist  and 
Horsa.  They  at  once  wipe  out  almost  all  of  civilization 
above  the  Thames.§  In  about  seventy  years  they  be- 
come masters  of  the  land.||  Then  King  Alfred  appears 
on  the  scene,  a  man  who,  seen  through  the  dim  mist  of 
tradition,  is  one  of  the  world's  heroes.  He  roused  the 
people  against  the  Danes,  founded  a  kingdom  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  island,  established  peace  in  his  realm, 
reduced  the  laws  to  system,  and  became  the  teacher  of 
his  people.Tf  Alfred  did  all  that  he  could  to  correct  and 


*  Green's  "  Short  History,"  p.  65.  t  Idem,  p.  74, 

I  Gneist,  i.  43. 

§.Eanke,  i.  17 ;  Green's  "  Short  History,"  pp.  78.,  79,  83. 

II  Gneist,  i.  105. 

IT  Ranke,  the  great  German  historian,  pays  this  tribute  to  Bede 
and  Alfred.  "Tlie  first  German  who  made  the  universal  learning 
derived  from  antiquity  his  own  was  an  Anglo-Saxon,  the  Venerable 


284       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

inform  the  ignorance  of  his  countrymen,  to  which  they 
had  been  reduced  by  the  Danish  conquest.  When  he 
began  to  reign,  lie  could  find  scarcely  a  priest  in  the 
kingdom  able  to  render  the  Latin  service  into  English. 
For  the  benefit  of  the  common  people  he  translated  sev- 
eral Latin  works,  with  annotations  which  sound  of  the 
primer.  He  established  schools  at  court,  where  the  sons 
of  the  nobility  were  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of  learn- 
ing ;  and,  taking  an  idea  from  Roman  jurisprudence,  he 
codified  the  laws,  prefacing  them,  after  the  Puritan  fash- 
ion, with  the  Ten  Commandments  and  a  portion  of  the 
law  of  Moses. 

Alfred  dies,  and  under  one  of  his  successors  the 
Danish  portions  of  the  country  are  brought  into  com- 
plete subjection.*  Then  follow  a  few  years  of  peace 
and  national  prosperity.  But  again  civil  war  breaks 
out,  and  the  heathen  Danes  reappear  in  new  and  greater 
hordes.  They  march  through  the  land  amid  the  light 
of  blazing  towns  and  homesteads,  and  in  the  end  put 
their  own  ruler  on  the  throne.f  Cnut  proves  a  wise 
and  beneficent  monarch,  and  for  twenty  years  gives  the 
country  peace.  But  he  dies  in  1035,  and  under  his  ty- 
rannical and  incapable  successors  there  ensues  a  reign 
of  blood,  which  prepares  the  way  for  the  coming  of  a 
greater  conqueror  than  the  Dane. 

And  now  what  was  the  condition  of  the  Anglo-Saxons 
after  a  residence  of  six  centuries  in  England  ? 

In  some  important  particulars,  as  we  have  seen,  they 
certainly  had  retrograded.  The  old  idea  of  personal 
freedom  had  largely  disappeared.     The  land  now,  in- 


Bede ;  the  first  German  dialect  in  ^'hich  men  -wrote  history  and  drew 
up  laws  was  likewise  the  Anglo-Saxon." — Ranke,  i.  13. 

*  Aethelstan,  924-941.  t  Green,  p.  91. 


THE    ANGLO-SAXONS  AS   ENGLISHMEN— THEIR   VIRTUES        285 

stead  of  being  the  domain  of  freemen,  had  become  the 
home  of  nobles  and  their  retainers,  beneath  whom  was 
a  race  of  serfs.*  Still,  many  of  the  early  ideas  pre- 
vailed among  the  body  of  the  people,  to  come  to  ma- 
turity at  a  later  day.  Aside  from  their  passion  for  war- 
fare, and  their  drunkenness — to  which  latter  vice  they, 
li]-:e  the  JSTetherlanders,  have  always  been  addicted — the 
English  were  a  moral  race.  If  they  had  no  respect  for 
beauty,  they  loved  truth.  This,  with  courage  and  fidel- 
ity, they  held  in  supreme  honor.  Dwelling  apart,  not 
sensuous,  inclined  to  melancholy,  taking  his  pleasure 
sadly,  as  Froissart  afterwards  said  of  him,  the  English- 
man built  up  the  modern  idea  of  home  and  family,  in 
which  the  wife  is  the  presiding  deity.f  In  the  early  days 
upon  the  Continent,  she  was  her  husband's  companion 
in  his  wanderings ;  now  that  he  had  settled  down  to 
cultivate  the  soil,  and  had  embraced  Christianity,  she 
became  the  manager  of  his  household.  The  wife  lived 
for  her  husband  and  children — a  narrow,  confined  exist- 
ence perhaps,  but  one  which  will  breed  heroes.:}: 


*  "The  strength  of  the  freedom  of  the  common  people,  the  self- 
respect,  and  the  martial  excellence  of  the  Angle-Saxon  ceorl  dimin- 
ished from  century  to  century,  in  spite  of  the  guardian  j^ower  which 
the  king  wielded." — Gneist,  1. 108.  As  this  writer  has  jjointed  out, 
the  chief  outward  survival  of  the  past  was  the  preservation  of  the 
old  Germanic  judicial  system  which  still  surrounded  personal  free- 
dom with  protecting  barriers  (p.  113).  As  law  was  then  adminis- 
tered this  was  not  much,  but  it  was  something. 

t  Gneist,  p.  114. 

I  Alfred  thus  describes  her  for  his  countrymen :  "  The  wife  now 
lives  for  thee — for  thee  alone.  She  has  enough  of  all  kind  of  wealth 
for  the  present  life,  but  she  scorns  them  all  for  thy  sake  alone.  She 
has  forsaken  them  all,  because  she  has  not  thee  with  them.  Thy  ab- 
sence makes  her  think  that  all  she  possesses  is  naught.     Thus,  for 


286      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

Courage,  fidelity,  respect  for  truth,  and  love  of  home 
are  great  virtues,  and  in  time  will  make  the  English  the 
master  race  of  the  world ;  but  they  are  virtues,  after  all, 
which  are  found  among  barbaric  tribes.  We  can  trace 
their  originals  in  the  picture  which  Tacitus  draws  of  the 
ancient  Germans  in  their  native  wilds.  Of  civilization 
the  people  had  but  a  tinge,  and  that  was  derived  from 
Rome  and  Eoman  Christianity,  For  the  six  centuries 
after  the  landing  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  on  the  shores  of 
Britain  the  history  of  England  is  almost  a  dead  level, 
broken  here  and  there  by  little  hillocks,  which  seem  to 
promise  progress.*  The  progress,  however,  did  not  fol- 
low, for  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  only 
about  a  third  of  the  soil  is  under  cultivation,  and  that  of 
the  rudest  kind ;  the  old  Eoman  influence  is  gone  for- 
ever ;  the  new  Eomish  churches  and  abbeys  have  been 
largely  demolished;  the  great  scholars  are  dead,  the 
schools  dispersed,  and  learning  well-nigh  extinguished. 
The  one  great  result  which  has  been  accomplished  for 
the  future  in  all  these  years,  apart  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  rude  form  of  Christianity,  is  the  substantial 
consolidation  into  one  people  of  the  heterogeneous  mass 
of  the  early  conquerors.f 


love  of  thee  she  is  wasted  awajf,  and  lives  uear  death  from  tears  and 
grief." — Quoted  by  Taine,  "  English  Literature." 

*  The  chief  eminence  appears  in  the  eighth  century,  wlien  the 
kingdom  of  Northumbria  had  its  famous  schools  at  York  and  Jar- 
rov?,  and  was  the  intellectual  centre  of  Western  Christian  Europe. 
Green,  p.  72.     But  this  period  was  brief. 

t  The  English  system  was  strong  in  the  cohesion  of  its  lower  or- 
ganism— the  association  of  individuals  in  the  township,  in  the  hun- 
dred, and  in  the  shire.  On  this  better-consolidated  substructure 
was  superimposed  the  better-consolidated  Norman  superstructure. 
Stubbs,  i.  278. 


THE   NORMANS    AND    THEIR    CIVILIZATION  287 

We  are  still  in  a  very  dark  valley,  but  before  us  at 
length  rises  a  lofty,  brilliant  mountain ;  it  is  the  Norman 
Conquest,  which,  bringing  with  it  for  a  time  the  civ- 
ilization of  the  Continent,  becomes  the  most  imjDortant 
event  in  English  history.* 

The  jSTormans  proper  were  descended  from  the  ISTorth- 
men,  or  Scandinavians,  who  founded  the  kingdoms  of 
Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark.  They  have  been  called 
pirates,  and  such  they  were ;  but  they  were  of  a  very 
different  type  from  the  early  Saxons  or  the  vulgar  pi- 
rates of  a  later  day.  Their  corsairs  were,  in  fact,  the 
merchants  of  the  North,  combining,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  times,  commerce  with  pirac}^  That  they 
should  have  made  such  rapid  development  after  they 
settled  in  France,  formerly  seemed  something  like  a 
miracle,  but  the  miraculous  element  is  rapidly  passing 
out  of  history.  In  this  case,  recent  investigations  show 
that  long  before  the  Normans  left  their  Northern  home 
they,  too,  had  been  brought  into  contact  with  the  great 
reservoirs  of  civilization  to  which  modern  Europe  owes 
so  much.  Sailing  up  the  Dwina  and  the  Oder,  and  then 
down  the  Yolga  and  the  Dnieper,  they  had  for  ages 
been  in  communication  with  Constantinople  and  the  re- 
gions about  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian.  Thence 
they  had  brought  back  spices,  pearls,  silks,  and  linen 
garments.  All  this  may  seem  strange  enough  to  those 
w^io  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  country  about 
the  Baltic  as  an  unexplored  wilderness  of  barbarism 
until  a  recent  date.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
until  about  the  tenth  century  the  only  communication 


*  "  The  will  of  destiny  cannot  be  gainsaid.  Just  as  Germany,  with- 
out its  connection  with  Italy,  so  England,  without  its  connection 
with  France,  would  never  have  been  what  it  is." — Ranke,  i.  38. 


2S8       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

between  the  Mediterranean  and  Northern  Europe  was 
by  inland  routes.  It  is  possible  that  even  the  frozen 
ISTorth  benehted  more  from  this  communication  than 
England  under  its  Anglo-Saxon  rulers.* 

Leaving  their  Northern  homes,  these  merchant  corsairs 
had  ravaged  the  coast  of  Europe  as  far  as  Spain,  had 
plundered  many  cities,  including  Paris,  and  had  made 
their  name  terrible  even  in  Italy  itself.  In  911,  Charles 
the  Simple  of  France  locates  a  band  of  them  on  French 
soil,  in  a  district  afterwards  known  as  Normandy,  think- 
ing thereby  to  purchase  their  allegiance.  The  scheme 
proved  a  marked  success.  Rolf,  or  Hollo,  the  pirate 
chief,  receives  baptism,  takes  the  title  of  duke,  and  be- 
comes a  loyal  servant  of  his  king.     It  was  by  Norman 


*  Upon  the  island  of  Gothland,  in  the  Baltic,  have  been  found 
great  numbers  of  Roman  and  Byzantine  coins,  and  its  surface  is 
dotted  over  with  the  ruins  of  ancient  buildings,  many  of  them  of 
great  size  and  architectural  beauty.  Canon  Adam,  of  Bremen,  a 
chronicler  of  the  eleventh  century,  tells  of  a  trading  city  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Oder,  "  a  town  rich  in  the  wares  of  all  Eastern  people, 
and  which  contains  much  that  is  charming  and  precious." — "  The 
Hansa  Towns,"  by  Zimmern,  p.  23.  Tlie  towns  of  tlie  Hanseatic 
League  derived  their  wealth  from  trade  Avith  the  Baltic.  It  is  a  cu- 
rious fact  that  so  early  as  the  tenth  century  German  traders  deal- 
ino-  with  England  paid  part  of  their  tribute  in  jiepper,  a  product 
peculiar  to  the  East.  Idem,  p.  16.  Some  writers  have  traced  a  con- 
nection between  the  Venetians  of  the  Adriatic  and  the  Vends  or 
Venedes  of  the  Baltic.  Idem,  p.  23.  See  also,  as  to  this  whole 
subject,  "The  Viking  Age,"  by  Paul  Da  Clmillu,  especially  vol.  i. 
chap.  XV.  pp.  262  and  276;  also  vol.  ii.  p.  219.  When  the  Eng- 
lish opened  a  trade  with  Russia,  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  they  at- 
tempted one  trip  to  Persia  by  the  old  route  of  the  Northmen,  up  the 
Dwina,  down  the  Volga,  and  across  the  Caspian  Sea.  Camden,  p. 
418.  This  voyage,  which,  I  believe,  has  never  been  noticed  by  later 
historians,  shows  that  the  route  was  known  even  five  hundred  years 
after  the  Norman  Conquest. 


THE   NORMAN    CONQUEST  289 

help,  later  on,  that  France  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  an 
independent  kingdom ;  and  Hugh  Capet,  instead  of  being 
a  vassal  of  kings  of  German  lineage,  became  the  father 
of  French  sovereigns." 

For  over  a  century  and  a  half  these  Northmen  had 
been  settled  on  the  soil  of  France,  intermarrying  with 
the  natives,  imbibing  the  ancient  civilization,  and,  with 
the  aptness  for  culture  which  marks  a  mixed  race,  mak- 
ing even  more  rapid  progress  than  the  French  them- 
selves. As  a  Teutonic  people,  they  were  perhaps  re- 
motely related  to  the  Anglo-Saxons,  but  they  bore  little 
resemblance  to  their  distant  kinsmen  whom  they  found 
in  England.  "William  of  Malmesbury,  the  old  chroni- 
cler, says :  "  The  Saxons  vied  with  each  other  in  their 
drinking  feasts,  and  wasted  their  goods  by  day  and  night 
in  feasting,  while  they  lived  in  wretched  hovels ;  the 
French  and  ISTormans,  on  the  other  hand,  lived  inex- 
pensively in  their  fine  large  houses,  were  besides  studi- 
ously refined  in  their  food,  and  careful  in  their  habits." 

These,  then,  are  the  men  who,  in  1066,  to  the  number 
of  sixty  thousand,  about  one  third  ISTormans  and  the  rest 
made  up  of  other  nationalities,  land  at  Hastings,  conquer 
England  w^th  its  two  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  make 
it  for  centuries  a  French  country.  The  conquest  was  an 
easy  one.  The  Frenchmen,  for  so  we  may  call  them  all, 
were  trained  warriors,  fighting  on  horseback,  with  long 
steel -pointed  lances,  and  clad  in  complete  armor.  The 
English  fought  on  foot ;  some  in  armor  wielded  heavy 
battle-axes,  but  the  mass  of  the  army  Avas  composed  of 
rude  peasants  carrying  scythes,  clubs,  and  sharpened 
poles.  The  heavy  but  swift -moving  cavalry  gave  the 
victory  to  the  foreigners. 


*  Fisher's  "  Outlines  of  Universal  History,"  p.  247. 
I.— 19 


290       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

It  took  but  a  few  years  under  the  rule  of  the  con- 
querors to  change  the  face  of  England.  The  land  was 
registered  in  Domesday  -  book,  and,  to  a  large  extent, 
parcelled  out  among  the  retainers  of  the  Norman  king. 
Each  new  proprietor  set  out  at  once  to  build  a  castle 
for  his  own  protection,  and  to  overawe  his  neighbors. 
Even  the  stone  of  which  these  castles  were  constructed 
was  brought  from  Caen,  in  France.*  At  the  death  of 
King  Stephen,  a  century  later,  eleven  hundred  and  fif- 
teen of  these  fortresses  dot  the  surface  of  the  island. 
Within  the  castle,  at  court,  in  the  halls  of  justice,  and 
even  in  the  church,  the  inmates  are  foreigners  and  the 
speech  is  French.f  In  the  schools,  pupils  were  in  time 
forbidden  to  speak  English.  Later  on,  in  the  universi- 
ties, the  students  were  required  by  statute  to  converse 
in  Latin  or  French.:]:  In  the  thirteenth  century  laws 
are  written  and  judicial  proceedings  are  aU  carried  on 
in  French.  For  nearly  three  hundred  years  the  English 
language  almost  disappears  among  the  upper  classes, 
and,  looking  only  at  the  surface,  it  seems  forgotten.  It 
continued  mainly,  if  not  solely,  among  the  small  proprie- 
tors, the  tradesmen  of  the  towns,  the  peasants,  and  the 
serfs.§ 

But  the  Kormans  did  much  more  than  to  build  castles 
and  introduce  a  foreign  speech  and  literature.  The  con- 
quest was  made  in  one  of  the  great  ages  of  history — an 
age  which  was  not  to  be  paralleled  until  the  days  of  the 
Kenaissance.  It  had  been  predicted,  for  so  the  clergy  read 


*  Ranke,  i.  35. 

t  William  the  Conqueror,  it  is  said,  attempted  to  learn  English, 
but  gave  up  the  task  in  despair. 
X  Regulation  of  Oriel  College,  1328. 
§  Hallam;  Green;  Freeman  in  The  Chautauquan,  March,  1891. 


CATHEDRALS    AND    UNIVERSITIES  29l 

the  Book  of  Revelation,  that  the  year  1000  was  to  witness 
the  destruction  of  all  things  terrestrial,  and  during  the 
preceding  century  the  world  came  to  a  standstill,  await- 
ing the  dread  event.  Within  three  years  after  the  close 
of  the  century,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  predic- 
tion was  unfounded,  men  awoke  to  a  ne^v  life.  Archi- 
tecture felt  the  first  impulse,  and  churches  were  renewed 
in  every  part  of  Europe,  especially  in  Italy  and  France. 
Then  were  formed  the  first  associations  of  builders,  es- 
sentially composed  of  men  bound  by  a  religious  vow,  who 
cultivated  the  art  in  convents  and  monasteries.*  The 
Frenchmen  loved  art.  Already  in  the  seventh  century 
they  had  sent  to  England  some  of  their  "masters  in 
stone."  t  ISTow,  under  the  ISTormans  and  their  successors, 
they  proceeded  to  cover  the  island  with  superb  cathe- 
drals, which,  inferior  only  to  those  in  France  itself,  bear 
witness,  not  alone  to  the  architectural  skill,  but  to  the 
spirit  of  devotion  which  animated  the  builders.  Later 
on  came  the  Crusades,  in  which  the  l^ormans  played  so 
great  a  part,  and  which  brought  Europe  into  contact 
with  the  civilization  of  the  Saracens  and  Jews,  develop- 
ing a  love  of  learning  little  known  before  in  Western 
Em:'ope. 

From  the  time  of  the  subversion  of  the  Roman  Empire 
by  the  barbarians,  the  cultivation  of  letters  had  been  car- 
ried on  exclusively  in  the  monasteries,  and  in  the  chapels 
of  cathedral  churches.  Now  a  new  spirit  was  abroad. 
The  communes  achieved  their  independence  in  France 
and  Italy ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  new  life  given  to 
the  study  of  Roman  law,  and  the  development  of  scho- 


*  "  The  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  by  Paul  Lacroix  (translated, 
London,  1870),  pp.  377,  378. 
t  Idem,  p.  356. 


292         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

lasticism  in  the  Is^orth  of  France,  united  at  Bologna  and 
Paris  a  numerous  body  of  teachers  and  scholars,  who 
were  organized  in  the  twelfth  century  into  the  corpora- 
tions known  as  universities,  upon  the  model  of  those  long 
before  established  by  the  Moors  in  Spain.*  First  in 
JSTorthern  Europe  arose  the  University  of  Paris,  which 
grew  out  of  the  teachings  of  Abelard  from  1103  to  about 
1136. t  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  ISTormans  were  apt  pupils. 
Between  the  Conquest  and  the  death  of  King  John,  they 
established  five  hundred  and  fifty-seven  schools  in  Eng- 
land.;]:  Among  these  institutions  were  the  two  renowned 
universities  which  have  contributed  so  much  to  the  glory 
of  English  learning. 

The  early  historians  of  England  carried  back  the  foun- 
dation of  Oxford  to  the  days  of  King  Alfred,  but  that 
myth  is  now  abandoned.  It  appears  from  the  records 
that  nothing  is  known  of  any  school  or  so-called  uni- 
versity at  Oxford  until  the  year  1133,  when  a  teacher 
from  Paris,  Eobert  Pullus,  began  to  lecture  there  on  the 
Bible.  He  taught  for  five  years,  and  then  went  to  Kome. 
A  few  years  after  his  departure,  Yacarius,  an  Italian,  ap- 
peared in  England  and  began  a  series  of  lectures  at  Ox- 
ford on  the  Civil  Law,  which  he  had  studied  at  Bologna. 
In  1149,  he  made  a  careful  abstract  for  English  students 


*  Abelard,  it  is  claimed,  was  educated  at  the  Moorish  university 
in  Cordova. 

t  See  for  an  interesting  history  of  this  university  and  its  influence 
on  France,  "De  I'Organization  de  I'Euseignement  dans  I'Universite 
de  Paris,"  par  Charles  Thurot,  Paris. 

J  Taiue's  "English  Literature,"  ]).  61.  Before  the  Conquest,  they 
had  founded  at  Bee,  in  Normandy,  "  the  most  famous  school  ot 
Christendom." — Green.  From  this  school  came  the  first  two  Nor- 
man Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  the  great  scholars  Lanfranc  and 
Anselm;  both,  however,  Italians. 


DEBT  OF   ENGLAND    TO   THE   JEWS  393 

of  the  Code  and  Digest  of  Justinian.  King  Stephen,  be- 
coming alarmed  at  the  threatened  innovation,  ordered 
the  lectures  to  be  discontinued,  and  forbad^  Englishmen 
to  own  any  treatise  on  foreign  law.  But  all  repressive 
measures  proved  ineffective.  Yacarius  remained  in  Eng- 
land, and  before  long  the  Civil  Law  became  one  of  the 
recognized  studies  at  the  university.''^  Here,  then,  we  see 
another  link  binding  England  to  the  civilization  of  the 
Continent.f 

In  the  history  of  learning  in  England,  much  as  it 
owed  to  Rome,  we  should  not  forget  its  debt  to  the 
Jews,  the  men  who,  with  the  Saracens,  did  so  much  in 
carrying  the  torch  of  science  and  letters  through  the 
darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages.:j;     Here  again  the  JSTor- 


*  Lyte's  "History  of  the  Ijniversity  of  Oxford,"  1886,  p.  11. 

t  General  statements  liave  sometimes  been  made  in  relation  to  the 
state  of  education  in  England  during  the  time  of  the  Normans,  which 
the  modern  reader  is  accustomed  to  receive  with  a  smile  of  incredu- 
lity. But  as  the  subject  is  investigated  the  smile  will  probably  die 
away,  and  the  investigator  will  begin  to  realize  how  rapidly  England 
went  down  after  the  disappearance  of  the  men  who  built  her  cathe- 
drals and  founded  her  universities  and  schools.  See  "Village  Life 
Six  Centuries  Ago,"  in  "  The  Coming  of  the  Friars  and  other  His- 
torical Essays,"  by  the  Rev.  Augustus  Jessopp  (G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  1889).  A  fuller  reference  will  be  made  to  this  essay  in  the 
next  chapter,  when  I  describe  the  state  of  education  under  Eliza- 
beth. It  is  interesting,  in  this  connection,  to  compare  the  English 
descriptions  of  Richard  I.  with  those  given  of  him  by  modern  French 
investigators.  The  picture  of  the  "Lion-hearted"  king  drawn  by 
most  English  writers  leaves  the  impression  of  a  coarse,  ignorant  sol- 
dier, whose  distinguishing  traits  were  physical  strength  and  brute 
courage.  Viollet-Leduc,  in  his  "Dicticmnaire  Raisonne  de  I'Archi- 
tecture  Fran9aise  du  XPau  XVP  Sifecle"  (Paris,  1868),  describes  him 
as  a  man  of  genius  and  "  an  engineer  full  of  resources,  experienced, 
foreseeing,  capable  of  leading  his  age  "  (iii.  82). 

I  See  Drapers  "  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe." 


294       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND   AMi:ilICA 

mans,  in  their  protection  of  this  people,  are  entitled  to 
great  honor  for  their  worldly  wisdom,  if  for  nothing- 
more.  "When  William  the  Conqueror  established  him- 
self in  England,  a  number  of  wealthy  Jews  followed 
him  from  Normandy.  He  settled  them  in  the  principal 
towns,  giving  them  a  section,  called  the  "Jewry,"  to 
themselves ;  and  although  they  could  not  own  land,  and 
were  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  but  chattels  of  the  king,  yet 
they  were  allowed  to  build  synagogues,  and  their  per- 
sons and  property  were  fairly  well  protected  for  nearly 
two  centuries — the  centuries  of  England's  greatness.  It 
was  with  the  money  borrowed  from  them  that  the  cas- 
tles and  cathedrals  Avere  constructed,  which  sprang  up 
over  the  island  as  if  by  magic* 

Connected  as  they  were  Avith  the  Jewish  schools  in 
Spain  and  the  East,  they  opened  up  the  way  to  the 
study  of  the  physical  sciences  in  England.  They  ap- 
pear to  have  founded  a  medical  school  at  Oxford ;  and 
it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  Roger  Bacon,  the  first 
man  of  science  that  England  ever  produced,  altliough 
he  studied  at  Paris,  was  also  a  pupil  of  the  Jewish  rab- 


*  How  far  they  were  superior  to  tlie  people  among  whom  they 
came  to  dwell  is  shown  in  the  character  of  their  domestic  arcliitect- 
ure.  "The  buildings  at  Lincoln  and  St.  Edmundsbury  which  still 
retain  their  title  of 'Jews'  Houses'  were  almost  the  first  houses  of 
stone  -which  superseded  the  mere  hovels  of  the  English  burghers." 
— Green,  "Short  History,"  p.  115.  At  Oxford  their  stone  structures 
were  so  numerous  and  substantial,  and  their  advance  in  scientific 
knowledge  so  marked,  that  it  is  probably  to  tlieir  presence,  in  some 
measure,  that  the  university  owed  its  existence.  Each  of  the  later 
town- halls  of  the  borough  of  Oxford  had  been  houses  of  Jews  be- 
fore their  expulsion  by  Edward  I.  "  Nearly  all  the  large  dwelling- 
houses,  in  fact,  which  were  subsequently  converted  into  academic 
halls,  Ijore  traces  of  tlie  same  origin  in  names,  such  as  Moysey's  Hall, 
Lombard's  Hall,  or  Jacob's  Hall." — Green. 


THE   NORMANS   AND    ENGLISH    INSTITUTIONS  295 

bis.  This  scholar,  who  died  in  1293,  was  unfortunately 
born  too  late.  Had  he  lived  earlier,  he  would  have  been 
appreciated  by  the  keen-witted,  knowledge-loving  JSTor- 
mans.  N'ow  their  influence  was  on  the  wane,  and  after 
forty  years  of  incessant  study  he  could  say,  like  his  great 
namesake,  who  came  too  early,  that  he  found  himself 
^'  unheard,  forgotten,  buried."  Euined  and  baffled  in 
his  hopes,  he  became  a  mendicant  friar,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  imprisoned  by  his  fraternity  for  writing 
his  scientific  works.  On  the  other  hand,  Robert  of  Lor- 
raine, two  centuries  before,  was  made  Bishop  of  Here- 
ford by  William  the  Conqueror  in  consequence  of  his 
astronomical  knowledge.* 

Returning  now  to  the  Kormans,  we  find  that  Eng- 
land's permanent  debt  to  these  foreigners  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  building  of  cathedrals  and  the  establishment 
of  schools  and  universities.  The  cathedrals  and  univer- 
sities still  stand  as  their  monuments,  but  others  remain 
not  less  striking.  Ranke  has  well  said  that  "  nowhere 
have  more  of  the  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages  been 
retained  than  in  England."  f  This  is  due  to  the  firm 
imprint  w^hich  the  conquerors  made  upon  the  country. 
They  brought  in,  or  at  least  firmly  established,  the  feu- 
dal system,  which  took  such  deep  root  that  its  princi- 
ples have  never  been  eradicated  from  English  law. 
Thence  is  derived  the  doctrine  of  primogeniture,  by 
some  regarded  as  a  blessing,  by  others  as  the  blight 
of  modern  England.  It  was  also  under  their  rule 
that  Ireland  was  first  conquered,  and  as  an  English  prov- 
ince became  the  plague  spot  of  future  generations. 
These  are  questionable  legacies,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 


*  Whewell's  "  History  of  tlie  Inductive  Sciences." 
t  "  History  of  England,"  Preftice,  p.  vi. 


29G        THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Henry  II.,  the  conqueror  of  Ireland,  established  the  judi- 
cial system  of  England,  much  as  it  exists  to-day.*  The 
same  reign  witnessed  the  regular  establishment  of  the 
system  of  "  recognition  by  sworn  inquest,"  from  w^hich 
institution,  probably  a  Norman  importation,  our  mod- 
ern trial  by  jury  is  lineally  descended. f  It  was  also 
under  the  foreim  kino;s  that  the  towns  received  their 
charters,  which,  borrowed  from  the  Continent,  gave 
them,  in  theory,  almost  an  independent  existence.:}: 
Finally  came  Magna  Charta,  wrung  from  the  last  of 
the  foreign  kings  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  English 
and  the  ISTormans,  w^hich,  however,  did  little  more  than 
to  embody  in  w^ritten  form  an  enumeration  of  rights 
and  privileges  claimed  by  Norman  retainers  under  Nor- 
man dukes. 

Taking  it  all  together,  this  forms  a  very  brilliant 
chapter  in  the  annals  of  the  w^orld ;  but  it  is  not  strictly 
English  history — certainly  the  Anglo-Saxons  have  but 
a  slight  connection  Avith  it,  except  in  helping  to  wrest 
Magna  Charta  from  a  king  whose  successors  regularly 
violated  its  provisions.  §  As  Macaulay  has  w^ell  pointed 
out,  II  the  Normans  who  accomplished  such  wonderful 
results  w^ere  Frenchmen  transplanted  into  England,  and 
Englishmen  have  little  lot  or  share  in  the  glory  of  their 
achievements.     For  four  generations  their  kings  were 


*  Ranke,  i.  38. 

t  Taswell-Langmead's  "Engl.  Const.  Hist.,"  pp.  160,  IGl. 

X  The  towns  like  London,  Norwich,  etc.,  were  filled  with  French 
and  Flemish  traders  who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Conqueror. 
Green. 

§  Before  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  confirmation  of  Magna 
Charta  was  demanded  and  conceded  no  less  than  thirty-eight  times. 
Gneist,  i.  311. 

II  "  Hist,  of  England,"  i.  13,  14,  15. 


BIRTH   OP    THE   ENGLISH   PARLIAMENT  297 

mostly  born  in  France,  and  passed  the  larger  portion  of 
their  time  upon  the  Continent.  It  was  only  when  King 
John  was  driven  out  of  I^ormandy  that  English  history 
can  be  said  to  begin  again. 

Still,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  even  in  this 
latter  period  the  Norman  influence  continued  long  after 
the  death  of  John  and  the  separation  of  England  from 
the  Continent.  John  died  in  1216,  but  it  w^as  not  until 
a  century  and  a  half  later  that  the  French  language 
gave  way  to  the  returning  English,  showing  that  the 
Normans  had  been  substantially  absorbed.  About  1350, 
boys  at  school  began  to  translate  Latin  into  English. 
In  1356,  the  earliest  English  book  of  mark  was  written, 
the  Travels  of  Sir  John  Mandeville.  In  1362,  the 
statute  was  passed  which  required  law  proceedings  to 
be  conducted  in  English  instead  of  French ;  and  about 
1383,  Wyclif  made  his  translation  of  the  Bible.^^  Dur- 
ing the  continuance  of  the  Norman  or  Continental  in- 
fluence, after  the  separation  from  France,  we  are  trav- 
ersing a  lofty  table -land  stretching  out  beyond  the 
mountain-top  which  we  ascended  Linder  Norman  rule. 
One  or  two  landmarks  on  this  table-land  are  deserving 
of  attention  before  we  descend  into  the  valley  of  real 
English  history,  when  the  races  had  become  amalga- 
mated. 

The  thirteenth  century  saw  the  first  organization  of 
the  English   Parliament.     There  had  been  previously 


*  Hallam,  "  Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  37.  Morley  calls  Mandeville 
"our  first  prose  writer  in  formed  English." — "  English  Writers  from 
the  Conquest  to  Chaucer,"  by  Henry  Morley,  i.  750.  The  Parlia- 
ment of  1365  opened  with  a  speech  in  English,  and  was  probably 
also  dismissed  by  Edward  III.  in  English.  Stubbs,  iii.  478 ;  Gneist, 
ii.  20. 


298        THE    PUUITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

a  Great  Council,  composed  of  the  leading  nobles  and 
ecclesiastics,  but  nothing  was  known  of  any  assemblage 
of  representatives  from  the  commons  until  1265.'''"  In 
that  year,  Earl  Simon  de  Montfort,  a  Frenchman,  sum- 
moned two  citizens  from  every  borough  to  attend  the 
Parliament  which  he  called  while  fighting  Henry  IILf 
This  assembly  amounted  to  nothing  except  as  a  sugges- 
tion for  the  future.  But  Edward  I.  called  a  Parliament 
in  1295,  where,  for  the  first  time  in  English  history, 
burgesses  from  every  city,  borough,  and  leading  town 
within  the  kingdom  came  to  sit  with  the  bishops,  knights, 
nobles,  and  barons  of  the  Great  Council. :{: 


*  About  1164  we  learn  of  the  first  assemblage  of  the  important 
nobles  and  prelates  to  consider  public  questions,  but  these  were  of 
an  ecclesiastical  nature.  Gneist,  i.  287.  They  met,  however,  only  to 
advise  the  sovereign,  and  not  as  a  legislative  body.  Idem,  p.  292. 
"  In  scarcely  any  other  European  country  did  the  parliamentary 
constitution  have  such  a  slow  and  difficult  birth  as  in  England," 
p.  312.  See  as  to  the  ancient  and  now  exploded  fictions  al)out  the 
Saxon  Witenagemote  as  the  parent  of  the  English  Parliament,  p.  103. 

t  Gneist,  i.  330.  Guizot  calls  him  "  the  founder  of  representative 
government  in  England." 

I  The  system  of  borough  representation  was  no  invention  of  the 
English.  Edward  had  very  intimate  relations  with  the  Netherlands. 
In  1381,  as  I  have  shown  in  a  former  ciiapter,  p.  153,  he  made  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  Count  of  Holland,  which  was  guaranteed  by  the 
towns.  Davies's  "Holland,"  i.  83;  Motley's  ''Dutch  Republic,"  i. 
37.  In  Holland,  deputies  from  the  towns  met  with  the  nobles  and 
clero-y  to  vote  supplies.  This  was  all  that  Edward  desired  from  his 
Parliament,  and  for  a  long  time  the  representatives  from  the  Eng- 
lish boroughs  came  very  reluctantly  when  summoned.  Green's 
"  Short  History,"  p.  199.  The  date  of  the  division  of  Parliament  into 
two  houses  is  uncertain  ;  it  took  place  some  time  before  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  Taswell-Langmead's  "Const.  Hist,  of 
England,"  p.  262 ;  Gneist,  ii.  27.  The  system  of  borough  represen- 
tation did  not  originate,  however,  in  the  Netherlands.     We  find  it 


ARRIVAL   OF   FLEMISH    WEAVERS  299 

In  1282,  Edward  I.  conquers  Wales,  and  makes  it  a 
permanent  part  of  the  British  Empire.  In  1296,  he 
thought  that  he  had  done  the  same  with  Scotland,  but 
there  England  met  a  different  foe.  The  battle  of  Ban- 
nockburn,  twenty  years  later,  gave  Scotland  her  inde- 
pendence forever.  The  same  reign  witnessed  the  death 
of  Roger  Bacon  (who  passed  aw^ay  forgotten  and  un- 
known), the  culmination  of  Christian  architecture,""^  and 
the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  England,  f 

If  England  suffered  from  the  expulsion  of  her  Jews, 
their  place  was,  in  part  at  least,  taken  by  another  race, 
who  had  also  been  encouraged  by  the  ]N'orman  rulers. 
William  the  Conqueror  brought  over  a  number  of  weav- 
ers from  Flanders,  who  founded  the  prosperity  of  l^or- 
wich.  IS'early  three  hundred  years  later  Edward  III. 
embraced  the  scheme  of  colonization  with  greater  vigor, 
and  invited  over  a  number  of  skilled  Flemish  artisans, 
who  settled  principally  in  ISTorfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Essex 
counties.    Their  direct  influence  was  not  great,  for  Eng- 


in  Spain,  where  from  the  earliest  day  the  towns  of  Aragon  and  Cas- 
tile sent  deputies  to  the  Cortes.  Robertson's  "  Charles  V."  (Am. 
ed.  1770),  i.  120-123.  This  was  at  a  date  long  before  the  Nor- 
man Conquest.  The  very  name  "  Parliamentuni "  had  been  used  in 
France  for  over  a  century  before  its  appearance  in  England.  Gneist, 
i.  319. 

*  Green's  "  Sliort  History,"  p.  221. 

t  The  Norman  kings  had  earnestly  and  successfully  protected  the 
Jews ;  but  by  the  time  of  Edward,  the  hatred  of  them  by  the  people 
had  gained  the  upper-hand.  Year  after  year  their  privileges  as  hu- 
man beings  had  been  curtailed,  till,  nothing  remaining  but  life,  at 
length,  in  1290,  the  whole  race  was  banished  from  the  kingdom, 
and  no  member  of  it  permitted  to  return  until  tlie  time  of  Crom- 
well. Sixteen  thousand,  despoiled  of  their  property,  left  England; 
but  only  a  few  reached  the  shores  of  France,  almost  all  of  the  refu- 
gees being  wrecked  or  murdered  by  the  English  sailors.     Green. 


300       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

land  was  to  do  little  at  manufacturing  for  many  a  long 
year;  but  when  we  come  to  trace  the  rise  of  Puritanism, 
we  shall  find  that  wherever  the  Flemish  or  Dutch  arti- 
sans had  settled  there  was  a  stronghold  of  the  Eefor- 
mation. 

It  took  about  three  centuries,  if  we  can  judge  from 
the  test  of  language,  for  the  absorption  of  the  keen- 
witted JSTormans,  with  their  love  of  art,  devotion  to 
learning,  and  talent  for  founding  institutions,  into  the 
body  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  who  were  in  the  proportion 
of  about  forty  to  one.*  The  result  was  the  English- 
men, whose  history  carries  us  down  into  a  dark  and 
dreary  vallej'',  which  stretches  out  with  little  change 
until  we  reach  the  middle  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 

On  the  dividing  line  between  the  England  of  the  Xor- 
mans  and  the  England  of  the  English  stands  Chaucer, 
almost  the  last  beacon  light  of  foreign  influence,  and  the 
first  poet  of  English  speech.  Born  somewhere  about 
1335,  the  son  of  a  vintner,  we  find  him  from  an  early 
day  in  close  relations  with  the  court.  Marrying  one  of 
the  maids  of  honor,  he  becomes  brother-in-law  to  John 


*  "  Early  in  the  fourteentli  century  the  amalgamation  of  the  two 
races  was  all  but  complete." — Macaulay,  "  Hist,  of  England,"  i.  16. 
German  historians,  with  a  very  natural  inclination  to  magnify  the 
Saxon  influence,  assign  an  earlier  date.  See  Gneist,  i.  297;  but  see 
also  ii.  20,  regarding  the  growing  use  of  the  English  language  as 
proof  of  the  growing  influence  of  the  Commons.  This  does  not  ap- 
pear until  about  three  centuries  after  the  Conquest.  In  this  con- 
nection, it  may  be  noticed  that  English  writers,  in  order  to  show  how 
thoroughly  the  Celts  of  Britain  had  been  exterminated  or  driven 
out  by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  invariably  point  to  the  introduction  of  the 
language  of  the  conquerors  as  one  of  their  strongest  arguments. 
The  argument  is  a  good  one,  and  it  applies  with  equal  force  to  the 
absorption  of  the  Normans,  showing  when  the  jirocess  w^as  com- 
pleted. 


THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'   WAR-ITS    DISASTROUS   EFFECTS        301 

of  Gaunt,  the  famous  Duke  of  Lancaster.  Exception- 
ally familiar  with  Italian  and  French,  he  goes  on  gov- 
ernment missions  to  Florence,  Genoa,  Milan,  Flanders, 
and  France.  In  Italy  he  learns  to  revere  the  memory 
of  Dante,  possibly  meets  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio,  and 
absorbs  the  whole  spirit  of  Italian  life.  Keturning  to 
England,  in  his  latter  days  he  writes  poems,  founded 
on  the  plan  of  his  Italian  masters,  some  copied  almost 
directly  from  their  works,  but  all  instinct  wath  English 
thouD^ht  and  feelino;.  His  was  the  first  outburst  of  the 
English  poetic  spirit  incited  by  the  singers  of  the  Conti- 
nent. But  his  song  made  no  impression  on  his  times : 
he  lived  in  the  debatable  age,  and  was  followed  by  no 
successor  for  nearly  tw^o  centuries. 

To  the  historian  of  England  the  century  which  fol- 
lowed the  absorption  of  the  ISTormans  may  be  of  interest, 
but  for  our  purpose  its  story  can  be  summed  up  in  a  few 
words ;  and,  to  do  no  injustice  to  the  record,  I  quote  from 
one  of  the  latest  and  ablest  of  English  popular  writers : 
"  The  hundred  years  which  follow  the  brief  sunshine  of 
Cressy  and  the  '  Canterbury  Tales '  are  years  of  the  deep- 
est gloom ;  no  age  of  our  history  is  so  sad  and  sombre  as 
the  age  which  we  traverse  from  the  third  Edward  to  Joan 
of  Arc.  The  throb  of  hope  and  glory  which  pulsed  at  its 
outset  through  every  class  of  English  society  died  into  in- 
action or  despair.  Material  life  lingered  on  indeed,  com- 
merce still  widened,  but  its  progress  w^as  dissociated  from 
all  the  nobler  elements  of  national  well-being.  The  towns 
sank  again  into  close  oligarchies ;  the  bondmen,  strug- 
oflino'  forward  to  freedom,  fell  back  into  a  serfage  which 
still  leaves  its  trace  on  the  soil.  Literature  reached  its 
lowest  ebb.  The  religious  revival  of  the  Lollards  was 
trodden  out  in  blood,  while  the  Church  shrivelled  into 
a  self-seeking  secular  priesthood.     In  the  clash  of  civil 


303       THE    PUKITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

strife  political  freedom  was  all  but  extinguished,  and 
the  age  which  began  with  the  Good  Parliament  ended 
with  the  despotism  of  the  Tudors,"  * 

This  is  the  period  whicli  covers  the  long  war  Avith 
France.  To  those  who  look  merely  at  the  surface  of 
events,  it  may  seem  strange  to  speak  thus  of  an  epoch 
of  English  history  which  witnessed  the  glorious  victo- 
ries of  Poitiers  and  Agincourt — an  epoch  in  which  Prance 
was  time  and  again  overrun  by  English  soldiers ;  in  which 
a  French  king  was  led  captive  to  London,  and  an  Eng- 
lish king  was  recognized  at  Paris  as  successor  to  ^he 
throne  of  France.  But  these  were  merely  triumphs  of 
English  energy,  courage,  and  generalship  in  the  field; 
at  last  French  sagacity  prevailed,  and  the  English  were 
driven  back  to  their  island  retreat.  Meantime  the  effect 
of  these  victories  upon  the  conquerors  was  much  like 
that  produced  on  the  Spaniards,  at  a  later  day,  by  their 
conquests  in  the  'New  World.  No  longer  restrained  by 
the  firm  hands  of  such  kings  as  they  had  known  under 
J^orman  rule,  the  English  soldiers  on  French  soil  turned 
into  mere  bands  of  marauders.  Men  fought  for  the  pil- 
lage of  houses,  the  sack  of  cities,  the  ransom  of  captives. 
Collecting  their  booty,  they  would  refuse  to  fight  again 
until  it  was  safely  stored.  France  was  desolated,  but 
the  moral  injury  to  the  English  was  greater  than  the 
material  one  to  the  French,  for  nothing  is  so  rapidly 
repaired  as  the  ravages  of  war.  The  nobles  came  home 
glutted  with  spoils,  but  unfitted  for  the  arts  of  peace. 
In  England  they  proved  themselves  as  lawless  and  dis- 
solute as  they  had  been  greedy  and  cruel  abroad.f 
Trampling  upon  the  rights  of  the  common  people,  re- 
belhon  broke  out,  and  the  intervals  between  the  cam- 


*  Green's  "  Short  History,"  p.  240.  t  Idem,  p.  387. 


TUB   SUFFRAGE    RESTRICTED— DECLINE   OF   LEARNING         303 

paigns  against  France  were  interspersed  with  domestic 
insurrections. 

Pestilence  came  also  to  add  its  horrors.  In  1348  the 
Black  Death  first  appeared  in  England.  During  its  rav- 
ages in  the  next  few  years  it  is  claimed  that  more  than 
one  half  of  the  population  was  carried  off.*  As  a  result, 
labor  became  so  scarce  and  wages  so  high  that  tillage 
of  the  soil  was  almost  abandoned.  The  great  land-own- 
ers gave  up  agriculture,  evicted  their  small  tenants, 
and  turned  their  fields  into  sheep  pastures,  raising  wool 
which  they  sent  to  Flanders  to  be  manufactured.  Turned 
adrift,  moneyless  and  without  employment,  the  agricult- 
ural laborer  developed  into  the  "  sturdy  beggar,"  who 
for  two  centuries  was  to  prove  the  pest  of  England. 
The  last  step  was  to  take  away  the  right  of  suffrage 
from  the  poorer  classes.  Until  1430,  the  knights  of  the 
shire — that  is,  the  county  members  of  Parliament — had 
been  elected  by  all  the  freeholders,  leaseholders,  and 
copyholders  of  the  county,  who  appeared  on  the  day 
of  election  at  the  sheriff's  court.  'Now  a  statute  was 
passed  providing  that  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  vote 
unless  he  was  the  owner  of  land  worth  forty  shillings 
a  year — a  sum  equal  to  at  least  twenty  pounds  to-day 
— and  representing  a  far  higher  proportional  income  at 
the  present  time.f  Thus  it  was  that  early  under  English 
rule  the  government  became,  as  it  has  since  continued, 
one  by  the  rich,  and  for  the  rich  alone. 

We  need  hardly  ask  how  learning  fared  in  such  an 
age.  In  the  last  century  of  ISTorman  influence,  Oxford 
had  numbered  her  students  by  thousands.:}:     ISTow  all 


*  Perhaps  one  third.    Prof.  Thorold  Rogers,  Time,  March,  1890. 

t  Green's  "  Short  History,"  p.  286. 

X  The  statement  of  old  writers  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  Ox- 


304      THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

this  was  changed.  According  to  Wood,  where  before 
there  were  thousands  there  was  now  not  one.  This  is 
of  course  an  exaggeration,  but  the  decline  in  numbers 
was  very  great,  probably  amounting  to  four  fifths.*  As 
a  result,  learning  came  to  an  almost  stagnant  condition. 
In  1443,  there  was  not  a  single  doctor  of  civil  law  resi- 
dent at  Oxford,  and  the  degrees  of  the  university  were 
sold  for  money.f  Latin  w^as  then  the  language  of  the 
learned,  but  that  spoken  and  written  in  England  w^as 
simply  a  barbarous  jargon,  its  masters  being  ignorant  of 
even  the  ordinary  rules  of  grammar.  As  for  the  col- 
leges, "  Oxford  Latin  "  became  a  by-w^ord  among  schol- 
ars.:{: 

One  gleam  of  light  shines  athwart  the  darkness  of 
this  period,  but  it  serves  only  to  make  the  darkness  more 
intense.  About  1361,  Wyclif  appears  ujoon  the  scene : 
for  twenty  years  he  struggles  for  religious  freedom ;  he 
translates  the  Bible  into  English,  builds  up  the  sect  of 
the  Lollards  (mainly  among  the  Flemish  w^eavers  of 
ISTorfolk),  and  dies  in  1384,  just  in  time  to  escape  martyr- 
dom. English  writers  lay  much  stress  upon  his  teach- 
ings, and  point  to  him  with  pardonable  pride  as  one  of 
the  early  religious  reformers ;  so  he  was,  but  he  was 
only  a  beacon  light,  like  Bede,  Roger  Bacon,  and  Chau- 
cer, individual  examples  of  something  great  in  the  na- 
tional character  which  time  was  to  develop.    The  people 


ford  bad  thirty  thousand  students  is  now  believed  by  no  one.  Lyte, 
in  his  recent  work  on  that  university,  says  that  there  were  never 
more  than  four  thousand,  and  Broderick  puts  the  number  at  from 
two  to  three  thousand.     Lyte,  p.  96 ;  Broderick,  p.  14. 

*  Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  147;  Green. 

t  Lyte,  pp.  314,  315. 

X  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  84. 


WARS    OF    THE    ROSES— THKIR    CHARACTER   AND    RESULTS      305 

were  not  prepared  for  his  coming,  as  were  the  Germans 
and  Netherlanders  for  the  advent  of  Luther,  a  century 
and  a  half  later.  He  died,  and  his  sect  substantially  died 
with  him,  for  they  were  soon  crushed  out  by  the  per- 
secutors of  the  Bishops'  Court.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  war  with  France,  almost  every  vestige  of  his  influ- 
ence had  disappeared.  Keligious  enthusiasm  was  dead. 
The  one  belief  of  the  time  was  in  sorcery  and  magic* 
We  are  now  descending  into  a  deep  valley  with  great 
rapidity. 

In  1415,  the  English  won  their  famous  victory  at  Agin- 
court.  In  14:31,  they  burned  Joan  of  Arc  at  the  stake 
for  sorcery,  in  turning  the  tide  of  conquest  which  had 
been  so  long  setting  against  the  French.  In  1451,  the 
long  war  came  to  an  end ;  the  English  were  driven  from 
the  Continent,  holding  nothing  but  the  city  of  Calais  as 
a  memento  of  their  triumphs.f  France  became  a  might- 
ier power  than  ever  before,  and  the  English  nobles  were 
left  to  fight  among  themselves. 

The  story  of  the  last  hundred  years  had  been  dark 
enough  for  English  civilization,  but  that  which  is  to  fol- 
low is  darker  still.  JSTo  page  in  history  is  more  dreary 
than  that  which  chronicles  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  ex- 
tending from  1450  to  1485.  The  contest  was  not  one  of 
principle,  nothing  being  involved  but  the  supremacy  of 
faction ;  and  it  was  characterized  simply  by  treachery, 
selfishness,  and  ruthless  cruelty.  The  old,  untamed, 
Anglo-Saxon  nature  seemed  to  be  let  loose,  and  we  have 
again  the  battles  of  the  kites  and  crows.  In  the  period 
which  extends  from  the  accession  of  Henry  YI.  to  that 
of  Henry  YIL,  thirteen  pitched  battles  were  fought  be- 
tween Englishmen  and  on  English  soil ;  the  crown  was 


Green,  p.  288.  t  This  was  lost  in  the  reign  of  Mary. 

L— 20 


300       THE    PUKITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

twice  won  and  twice  lost  by  each  of  the  contending 
houses;  three  out  of  four  kings  died  by  violence;  eighty 
persons  connected  with  the  blood  royal  were  reckoned 
as  having  perished  on  the  field  or  scaffold  or  by  the 
hand  of  the  assassin;  and  the  great  majority  of  the  noble 
families  became  extinguished,  or  sank  into  obscurity.'"" 
The  wholesale  confiscations  which  followed  the  final 
establishment  of  the  Tudors  transferred,  it  is  said,  near- 
ly one  fifth  of  the  land  of  the  kingdom  into  the  hands 
of  the  successful  reigning  house.  As  the  ultimate  issue 
of  the  contest,  the  progress  of  English  freedom  was  ar- 
rested for  over  a  hundred  years.f  Up  to  this  time,  even 
during  the  long  war  with  France,  although  civilization 
was  falling  so  rapidly  behind,  the  forms  of  liberty  had 
been  preserved,  and  the  security  of  the  citizens  so  well 
guarded  as  to  excite  the  admiration  of  observers  like 
Commines,  w^ho  pronounced  England  the  best-governed 
country  in  the  world.:]; 

But  all  this  was  passing  away.  Libert}^  in  England, 
like  that  in  Spain,  had  rested  on  the  strength  of  the 
great  barons,  who,  as  a  condition  of  securing  their  own 
rights,  had  been  compelled  to  protect  those  of  their 
humbler  allies  and  retainers.  The  "Wars  of  the  Roses, 
in  w^hich  gunpowder  was  first  used  on  British  soil,  dealt 
the  death-blow  to  everything  which  was  beneficial  in 
the  feudal  system,  leaving  only  its  withered  branches 
still  to  cumber  the  earth.  With  this  power  gone,  the 
greater  nobles  being  removed  by  death  and  the  lesser 
ones  cowed  and  scattered ;  wdth  a  middle  class  just  born, 
and  the  people  as  yet  undreamed  of;  with  a  Church, 


*  Kirk's  "  Charles  the  Bold,"  ii.  29. 
t  Green's  "  Short  History,"  p.  301. 
I  Commines  wrote  about  1472. 


LIBERTY    AKD    LEARNING    UNDER   THE   TUDOR   KINGS         307 

which  through  the  Middle  Ages  had  been  the  friend  of 
freedom,  now  sunk  into  debauchery  or  faUing  into  pitia- 
ble decrepitude ;  with  manufactures  almost  unknown, 
and  commerce  in  its  infancy,  nothing  could  be  expected 
but  the  absolutism  of  the  crown,  and  this  came  to  stay, 
until  hacked  down  by  the  rude  blows  of  the  Puritans  in 
the  days  of  Charles  I. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  torture  was  introduced  as 
part  of  the  regular  machinery  of  state,  not  to  be  finally 
put  away  until  after  the  Eevolution  of  1688.  The  priv- 
ilege of  self -taxation  now  became  a  delusion;  for  the 
Tudor  kings,  when  in  want  of  money,  did  not  lay  a 
formal  tax,  to  be  sure,  but  by  forced  loans  simply  helped 
themselves  from  the  coffers  of  their  wealthy  subjects. 
Jury  trials  were  turned  into  a  farce,  when  the  juries 
were  always  packed,  and,  in  addition,  punished  if  they 
gave  a  verdict  against  the  crown.  As  for  Parliament,  it 
was  rarely  summoned,  and  then  met  only  to  record  the 
decrees  which  riveted  the  fetters  of  tyranny.* 

If  liberty  seemed  dead  under  the  Tudor  kings,  litera- 
ture and  learning  were  hardly  less  lifeless.  This  was  not 
the  fault  of  the  age,  for  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
especially  towards  its  close,  the  whole  of  the  Continent 
of  Europe  was  in  an  intellectual  ferment.  England  alone, 
peaceful  England,  cut  off  from  the  elder  civilization  by 
the  Channel,  scarcely  felt  the  movement,  and  was  not  to 
feel  it  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  to  come.  In  this  con- 
nection, however,  two  events  should  be  noticed,  not  from 
the  importance  of  their  immediate  results,  but  because 
they  form  little  landmarks  in  English  history,  and  give 
promise  of  something  better  in  the  future. 


*  See  Green  for  au  admirable  account  of  these  features  of  the 
period  from  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  to  the  accession  of  Elizabeth. 


308       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

The  first  is  the  introduction  of  printing  into  England. 
In  1476,  William  Caxton,  after  an  absence  of  thirty-five 
years,  returned  home  with  a  priceless  treasure :  a  print- 
ing-press, which  he  had  learned  to  use  while  living  in  the 
J^etherlands.  This  brought  England  again  into  some 
relations  with  the  Continent,  but  a  single  fact  will  show 
how  slight  was  its  effect  upon  the  general  pubhc.  In  the 
thirty  years  which  succeeded  the  setting-up  of  Caxton's 
press  at  Westminster,  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  edi- 
tions of  books  and  pamphlets  were  printed  in  Europe ; 
but  of  all  this  number  only  one  hundred  and  forty-one 
appeared  in  England.*  The  quality,  too,  was  on  a  par 
with  the  quantity.  The  first  book  which  issued  from 
the  German  press  was  the  Bible.  Caxton's  first  produc- 
tion was  a  little  work  on  the  Game  of  Chess,  or  perhaps 
one  on  the  Siege  of  Troy.  Well  may  Hallam  say,  re- 
viewing them  all,  that  his  publications  "  indicate,  on  the 
whole,  but  a  low  state  of  knowledge  in  England."-t-  These 
simple  facts  should  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  read  the 
glowing  sentences  in  which  historians  have  described  the 
revival  of  learning.  There  was  a  glorious  revival  about 
this  time,  but  until  the  latter  days  of  Elizabeth  England 


*Hallain's  <' Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  193. 

t  Hallam,  i.  135.  Strype,  in  his  "Ecclesiastical  Memorials,"  in 
giving  the  important  events  of  the  year  1551,  throws  considerable 
light  on  the  small  advance  made  by  English  printers  even  at  that 
time.  He  says :  "  Let  me  add  here,  now  we  are  upon  the  mention 
of  books  printed,  that  in  April  tins  year,  two  foreign  printers — the 
one  an  Italian,  the  other  a  Dutchman — had  privileges  granted  them 
to  print  certain  books,  which  it  seems  our  English  printers  had  not 
skill  or  learning  enough  to  do."  The  Italian  printed  the  Digests 
and  Pandects  of  the  Roman  Civil  Law  ;  the  Dutchman  printed  a 
Herbal  compiled  by  William  Turner,  Doctor  in  Physic.  Strype,  ii. 
317. 


THE  OXFOKD  REFORMERS  AND  THEIR  WORK       309 

had  very  little  sha^;e  in  it ;  the  mass  of  her  people  could 
not  read,  and  hence  had  no  need  of  boohs.  What  the 
upper  classes  read,  I  shall  describe  hereafter. 

The  second  event  was  the  gathering  at  Oxford,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  early  part  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  of  a  little  band  of  scholars,  called  the 
Oxford  Eeformers.  The  band  was  made  up  of  Grocyn, 
Linacre,  and  Colet — all  of  whom  had  been  students  in 
Italy — with  Thomas  More  and  a  few  others,  who,  in- 
cited by  the  scholars  of  the  Continent,  began  the  study 
of  classical  literature.  To  them  came  Erasmus  for  the 
study  of  Greek  under  Grocyn,  being  too  poor  to  go  to 
Italy.  A  mere  boy,  full  of  enthusiasm  and  ignorant  of 
Italian  culture,  the  new-comer,  shortly  after  his  arrival, 
wrote  a  letter  praising  in  high  terms  the  learning  which 
he  found  at  Oxford.  This  letter  has  been  the  delight  of 
almost  every  English  author  who  has  written  of  this 
period;*  but  Hallam,  the  cold,  sober-minded  historian, 
pricks  the  bubble.  He  points  out  that  Erasmus  Avas 
writing  to  an  English  friend,  that  he  was  always  given 
to  flattery,  and  concludes  that  the  English  cannot  in 
conscience  take  his  praises  to  themselves.f 


*  See  extracts  in  Green's  "Short  History,"  p.  317. 

t  "  The  scholars  were  few,  and  not  more  than  three  or  four  could 
be  found,  or  at  least  now  mentioned,  who  had  any  tincture  of  Greek 
• — Grocyn,  Linacre,  William  Latimer,  who,  though  an  excellent  schol- 
ar, never  published  anything,  and  More,  who  had  learned  at  Oxford 
under  Grocyn." — Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  i.  185.  Grocyn, 
after  returning  from  Italy,  communicated  his  acquisitions  "  chiefly  to 
deaf  ears."  Idem,  p.  184;  see  also  p.  219  as  to  the  "panegyrical 
humor"  of  Erasmus.  In  1510,  More  succeeded  in  again  bringing 
Erasmus  over  to  England  to  teach  Greek  at  Cambridge.  "  The 
students,"  says  Hallam,  "were  too  poor  to  pay  him  anything,  and  his 
instruction  was  confined  to  the  grammar.     In  the  same  year  Colet, 


310       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMEItlCA 

The  fact  is  that  the  group  of  Enghsh  scholars  was  very 
small,  and  the  acquirements  of  its  members  were  very 
limited.  Green  claims  More  alone  as  entitled  to  rank 
among  the  great  classical  scholars  of  the  age,  and  even 
of  him  Hallam  remarks  that  he  had  a  very  ingenious 
but  not  a  profound  mind.* 

It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  universi- 
ties on  the  Continent  contained  a  large  number  of  men 
learned  not  only  in  Greek,  but  in  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and 
Arabic  as  well.  Peter  Albinus,  historiographer  of  Sax- 
ony, w^ho  died  in  1598,  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  "  Foreign 
Languages  and  Unknown  Islands,"  in  which  he  enumer- 
ates the  names  and  acquisitions  of  a  number  of  these 
early  scholars,  some  of  whom  were  skiUed  in  fifteen  lan- 
guages, a  knowledge  of  six  or  seven  being  quite  common. 
He  says  that,  although  our  ancestors  were  satisfied  with 
the  Latin,  a  man  is  not  now  regarded,  even  by  the  vul- 
gar, as  plausibly  learned  who  is  not  master  of  Greek  or 
Hebrew  at  least,  in  addition,  of  course,  to  Latin,  the  uni- 
versal language.  ISTever  at  any  period  since  the  Christian 
era  had  there  been  so  many  in  Europe  skiUed  in  Hebrew, 
Chaldee,  and  Greek  literature  as  there  were  in  that  day 
within  the  universities  of  Germany,  France,  Italy,  and 


Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  founded  there  a  school,  and  published  a  Latin 
grammar.  Five  or  six  little  works  of  this  kind  had  already  ap- 
peared in  England.  These  trifling  things  are  mentioned  to  let  the 
reader  take  notice  that  there  is  notliing  more  worthy  to  be  named. 
.  .  .  The  difference  in  point  of  learning  between  Italy  and  England 
was  at  least  that  of  a  century;  that  is,  the  former  was  more  advanced 
in  knowledge  of  ancient  literature  in  1400  than  the  latter  was  in 
1500." — Hallam,  i.  205.  Very  mildly  he  concludes:  "In  the  spirit 
of  truth,  we  cannot  quite  take  to  ourselves  the  compliment  of  Eras- 
mus."— Idem,  p.  219. 
*  Hallam,  i.  221. 


FOREIGN    SCHOLARS— THE    ENGLISH   REFORMATION  311 

Spain.*  In  1517,  Cardinal  Ximenes  published  in  Spain 
his  famous  polyglot  Bible,  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Chaldee, 
and  Latin,  In  1516,  Justinian,  Bishop  of  IsTebbio,  in 
Corsica,  published  a  psalter  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Arabic, 
Chaldee,  and  Latin,  f  These  illustrations  only  suggest 
the  work  going  on  in  the  foreign  universities  when  the 
English  were  beginning  to  study  the  Greek  grammar 
and  publish  little  elementary  books  on  Latin. 

Such  as  they  were,  however,  these  disciples  of  the 
New  Learning  form  almost  the  last  beacon  lights  in 
English  literary  history,  until  we  come  to  Spenser, 
Shakespeare,  Hooker,  and  Bacon.  They  brought  clas- 
sical literature  to  the  universities,  and  it  lived  there 
for  a  time  a  sickly  life ;  but  the  soil  was  unfruitful, 
the  climate  ungenial,  and  in  a  few  j^ears  it  withered  away 
and  died.  Their  religious  teachings  were  equally  un- 
fitted for  the  age  and  country.  Luther  came  preach- 
ing to  men  and  not  to  scholars,  thundering  against  the 
abuses  of  the  Church ;  but  he  awakened  no  echo  among 
these  students.:}:  They  founded  a  grammar  school  or 
two,  and  probably  exerted  some  influence  on  the  middle 
stratum  of  society,  but  on  the  surface  they  hardly 
raised  a  ripple.  § 

Upon  England  the  Reformat  ion,  for  many  years,  pro- 


*  See  translation  of  this  rare  pamphlet  by  Edmund  Goldsmid,  Ed- 
inburgh, 1884.     Privately  printed. 

t  Idem.  I  Green,  p.  31. 

§  In  this  connection  we  may  also  profitably  notice  a  little  Protes- 
tant movement  at  Oxford  which  occurred  in  1527.  It  was  led  by 
Thomas  Garret,  a  fellow  of  Magdalen  College.  The  students  affect- 
ed by  it  read  tlie  New  Testament,  Luther's  tracts,  and  like  heretical 
works.  Finally  they  were  detected,  placed  in  confinement,  and  all 
except  one,  who  died  in  prison,  retracted.  Oxford  was  purged  of 
heresy.     Froude,  ii.  56,  76. 


313        THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

duced  but  a  faint  impression.  The  people,  to  be  sure, 
had  their  religion  changed  for  them,  from  time  to  time, 
but  such  transformations  signified  nothing.  The  first 
one  was  imposed  by  Henry  YIII.  in  1531.  Finding 
that  he  could  obtain  his  divorce  in  no  other  way,  he 
deposed  the  pope  from  the  headship  of  the  English 
Church  and  assumed  the  place  himself.  The  common 
people  acquiesced,  for  they  knew  and  cared  little  about 
such  questions,  except  in  their  political  bearings.  The 
nobles  were  won  over  by  an  arrangement  which  made 
the  restoration  of  the  old  relations  with  Rome  almost 
impossible.  The  monastic  orders  in  England,  as  upon 
the  Continent,  had  absorbed  a  large  portion  of  the 
land.*  Henry  abolished  the  monasteries,  confiscated 
their  property,  and  divided  it  largely  among  his  cour- 
tiers. The  men  thus  enriched  had  no  love  for  Prot- 
estantism, but  never  would  accede  to  any  legislation 
which  looked  towards  a  surrender  of  their  plunder. 

In  the  end,  the  separation  from  Eome  was  to  prove 
a  great  blessing;  but  at  the  outset  only  evil  results 
seemed  to  follow.  The  ecclesiastics,  with  all  their 
faults,  had  been  at  least  liberal  and  indulgent  landlords. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  they  demanded  from  their 
tenants  not  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  rental  value  of 
their  lands.  Under  such  a  system  the  farmer  was  al- 
most a  freeholder.  The  suppression  of  the  monasteries 
brought  this  to  an  end.  Their  estates  passed  into  the 
hands  of  men  who  exacted  the  last  penny  of  rent.  It 
was  as  yet  more  profitable  to  raise  wool  than  grain,  and 
so  farms  were  now  given  up  in  greater  numbers,  the 
buildings  were  torn  down,  and  the  tenants  turned  adrift 
to  prey  upon  the  public.     We  can  trace  the  effects  of 


*  Estimated  at  one  fifth.      Gneist,  ii.  159. 


EVIL   RESULTS    OF   REFORMATION   UNDER   HENRY  VIII         313 

this  change  in  successive  acts  of  Parliament  passed  for 
the  repression  of  pauperism,  under  which  the  beggar 
for  the  first  offence  was  to  be  whipped,  for  the  second 
to  have  his  ears  slit  or  bored  with  a  red-hot  iron,  and 
for  the  third  to  be  put  to  death  as  a  felon.  A  later  act 
provided  that  all  vagrants  should  be  apprehended  and 
treated  as  slaves.  Formed  into  bands,  the  "  sturdy  beg- 
gars" roamed  over  the  country,  always  ready  for  a 
civil  commotion,  of  which  they  incited  several,  and 
everywhere  making  life  and  property  insecure.* 

But  this  was  not  the  worst  immediate  result  of  the 
separation  from  Eome.  The  movement,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  Avas  not  a  religious  nor  a  theological, 
but  almost  entirely  a  secular  one.  During  the  reign  of 
Henry  the  Eeformer  the  same  hurdle  bore  to  the  stake 
three  men  who  denied  the  king's  spiritual  supremacy — • 
the  new  English  doctrine — and  three  others  who  ques- 
tioned the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  the  leading 
tenet  of  the  Church  of  Rome.f  No  change  of  belief 
was  proposed,  only  a  change  of  pope.  However,  the 
mode  in  which  this  change  was  accomplished,  and  the 
object  for  which  it  was  brought  about,  were  disastrous 


*  Harrisou  says  that  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  seventy-two 
thousand  persons  were  executed  in  England  for  crimes  against  the 
person  and  property.  During  about  the  same  period,  according  to 
tlie  estimate  of  William  of  Orange,  over  fifty  thousand  were  execut- 
ed in  the  Netlierlands  for  lieresy.  Both  estimates,  however,  may  be, 
exaggerated. 

t  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  93.  See  Gneist,  ii.  157,  for  an  account 
of  the  difference  between  the  Reformation  upon  the  Continent  and 
that  in  England.  Upon  the  Continent  it  was  the  result  of  an  in- 
tellectual belief  in  the  errors  of  the  Romish  Church.  In  England, 
it  gained  its  power  among  the  masses  from  a  political  desire  for 
national  independence,  by  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  eccle- 
siastical ruler.  The  intellectual  and  religious  movement  was  de- 
layed in  England  for  many  years. 


314       TUE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

enough  to  the  cause  of  religion.  In  the  suppression  of 
the  monasteries  every  indignity  was  offered  to  objects 
which  the  people  looked  up  to  with  reverent  awe.  The 
Bible  was  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  but  only, 
to  use  the  words  of  Henry  himself,  to  be  "disputed, 
rhymed,  sung,  and  jangled  in  every  tavern  and  ale- 
house "  in  the  land,  so  that  he  soon  suppressed  its  gen- 
eral reading.  The  priests,  terrorized  by  the  crown,  lost 
all  independence,  and  thought  only  of  saving  their  liv- 
ings by  the  most  abject  servility. 

The  effect  of  this  religious  upheaval  on  the  public  at 
large  was  bad  enough  during  the  reign  of  Henry ;  still,  he 
tried  to  check  the  excesses  of  the  fanatics,  and  preserved 
some  respect  for  outward  religious  forms.  Upon  his 
death,  however,  the  revolution  went  still  further.  The 
uncle  of  the  young  king,  who  assumed  the  office  of 
Protector,  had  little  religion,  but  thought  it  to  his  ad- 
vantage to  ally  himself  with  the  more  violent  of  the 
Reformers.  The  precocious  Edward  was  doubtless  sin- 
cere in  his  Protestantism,  and  his  sincerity  aided  the 
work  of  the  Protector.  The  mass  was  abolished,  the 
altars  were  torn  down,  all  pictures  and  images  removed 
from  the  churches ;  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
was  repudiated,  the  confessional  abolished,  and  priests 
were  permitted  to  marry.  "With  these  violent  changes, 
the  old  religion  Avas  gone,  but  unfortunately  nothing 
was  substituted  in  its  place.  "We  have  seen  that  in  the 
ISTetherlands  the  new  religion  naturally  replaced  the 
old,  the  process  being  a  slow  and  silent  one,  brought 
about  by  placing  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  a  people  all 
of  whom  could  read.  The  mass  of  the  English  popula- 
tion were  too  ignorant  to  dispense  at  once  with  the 
sensuous  element  in  their  religion,  and  utterly  unfitted 
to  accept  the  doctrines  of  the  Eeformation,  even  had 


INCREASED    DEMORALIZATION   UNDER   EDWARD   VI  315 

these  doctrines  been  brought  to  their  attention.*  De- 
prived of  the  old  system,  which  at  least  inculcated  some 
morality,  and  incapable  of  comprehending  the  new 
teachings,  which  made  faith  of  paramount  importance, 
the  result  followed  which  may  be  looked  for  whenever 
all  religious  restraints  are  thrown  aside. 

The  English  people  were  low  enough  before,  but  now 
a  sudden  lurch  seemed  to  plunge  them  into  still  lower 
depths.  With  every  barrier  broken  down,  the  nation 
entered  on  a  carnival  of  irreligion  and  immorality.  The 
patron  of  a  benefice  no  longer  made  a  distinction  be- 
tw^een  a  clergyman  and  a  layman.  He  appointed  as 
rector  of  a  parish,  himself,  his  steward,  his  huntsman, 
or  his  gamekeeper,  and  then  pocketed  the  stipend.f 
Learning,  too,  naturally  declined,  the  attendance  at  the 
universities  falling  off  to  almost  nothing,  the  libraries 
being  destroyed  or  scattered,  and  costly  books  burned 
or  chopped  up  with  axes.:}:  One  transaction  shows  bet- 
ter, perhaps,  than  anything  else  the  iconoclastic  charac- 
ter of  the  age.  The  Duke  of  Somerset,  the  Protector, 
having  pulled  down  some  churches  in  order  to  erect 
Somerset  House  with  the  materials,  next  projected  the 
demolition  of  Westminster  Abbey  for  the  same  purpose. 


*  I  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  it  was  not  until  1538 
that  any  translation  of  the  Bible  was  printed  in  English. 

t  "The  cathedrals  and  churches  of  London  became  the  chosen 
scenes  of  riot  and  profanation.  St.  Paul's  was  the  stock-exchange 
of  the  day,  where  the  merchants  of  the  city  met  for  business,  and 
tiie  lounge  where  the  young  gallants  gambled,  fought,  and  killed 
each  other.  They  rode  their  horses  through  the  aisles  and  stabled 
them  among  the  monuments." — Froude,  v.  256. 

J  Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  ii.  35.  "The  divinity  schools 
were  planted  with  cabbages,  and  the  Oxford  laundresses  dried  clothes 
in  the  schools  of  arts." — Froude. 


316       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMEEICA 

From  this  act  of  vandalism  he  was  turned  aside  only  bj 
a  grant  from  the  chapter  of  some  of  its  estates.* 

The  public  service  also  felt  the  evil  infiuenoe.  Cor- 
ruption everywhere  prevailed.  Every  official,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  plundered  the  treasury.  In  seven- 
teen years  the  expenses  of  government  increased  more 
than  fourfold,  and,  ignorant  of  the  first  jDrinciples  of  po- 
litical economy,  the  crown  attempted  to  make  money 
by  debasing  the  currency.f  Private  business  and  moral- 
ity likewise  naturally  suffered.  The  English  had  man- 
ufactured some  coarse  woollen  cloth  which  had  acquired 
a  good  reputation  on  the  Continent,  ISTow  came  news 
that  huge  bales  of  it  were  lying  on  the  wharves  at 
Antwerp  without  a  purchaser  "  through  the  naughtiness 
of  the  making,"  and,  "  yet  more  shameful,  that  woollens, 
fraudulent  in  make,  weight,  and  size,  were  exposed  in 
the  place  of  St.  Mark  with  the  brand  of  the  Senate  upon 
them,  as  evidence  of  the  decay  of  English  honesty  with 
the  decay  of  English  faith. ":{; 

One  creditable  thing  was  accomplished  by  the  Re- 
formers of  the  time  of  Edward.  They  founded  eighteen 
grammar  schools  and  some  hospitals,  appropriating  for 
the  endowment  of  them  all  land  worth  twelve  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  equal  perhaps  to  as  many  thousand 
pounds  to-day.§  As  these  same  men  granted  to  them- 
selves crown  lands  to  the  value  of  a  million  and  a  half, 
equal  to  fifteen  or  twenty  million  pounds  in  modern 


*  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  105.  These  men,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, Avere  not  Puritans,  but  the  founders  of  the  Church  of  England. 

t  Froude,  v.  154,  266,  etc. 

X  Idem,  V.  259.  For  a  full  account  of  the  corruption  and  demor- 
alization of  this  time,  see  Strype's  "Ecclesiastical  Memorials,"  vol.  ii. 
chaps,  xxiii-xxiv.  §  Idem,  v.  431. 


QUEEN   MARY   AND    THE   CATHOLIC   REACTION  317 

money,*  and  as  they  and  their  predecessors  had  largely 
absorbed  the  property  of  the  monasteries  and  other 
clerical  institutions,  this  contribution  to  the  cause  of 
humanity  and  learning  Avas  hardly  lavish  enough  to 
warrant  the  praise  of  historians,  who  call  it  a  "noble 
measure,"  throwing  a  lustre  over  the  name  of  Edward.f 
But  let  us  be  thankful  for  even  the  eighteen  grammar 
schools,  and  their  sixty  or  seventy  pounds  a  year.  Their 
foundation  was  unique.  The  government  did  nothing 
more  of  the  kind  for  three  centuries ;  and  even  these  few 
schools  bore  fruit  in  time. 

"With  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  in  1553,  there 
came  a  short  and  terrible  reaction,  showing  how  little 
the  people  at  large  cared  about  religious  matters.  The 
changes  during  the  reign  of  Edward  had  been  made  by 
an  almost  unanimous  Parliament,  now  the  House  of 
Lords,  without  a  dissentient  voice,  and  the  House  of 
Commons,  by  a  vote  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight, 
to  two,  decided  to  return  to  the  Eomish  faith. :|:  The 
mass  was  restored,  the  new  prayer-book  set  aside,  the 


*  Froude ;  Green ;  Gneist,  ii.  162.  f  Green. 

X  Froude,  vi.  268.  Speaking  of  these  bewildering  transformation 
scenes,  unknown  in  other  lands,  the  Venetian  ambassador  resident 
at  London  reported  to  his  government  in  1557  :  "  The  example  and 
authority  of  the  sovereign  are  everything  with  the  people  of  this 
country  in  matters  of  faith.  As  he  believes,  they  believe.  Juda- 
ism or  Mahometanism — it  is  all  one  to  them.  They  conform  them- 
selves easily  to  his  will,  at  least  so  far  as  the  outward  show  is  con- 
cerned; and  most  easily  of  all  where  it  concurs  with  their  own 
pleasure  and  profit."  Of  the  English  Parliament  he  adds:  "They 
are  rarely  summoned  except  to  save  the  king  trouble,  or  to  afford  a 
cloak  to  his  designs.  No  one  ventures  to  resist  the  regal  will,  ser- 
vile the  members  come  there  and  servile  they  remain."— Prescott's 
"  Philip  II.,"  i.  77,  79. 


318      THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

married  priests  were  driven  from  their  livings,  and  the  old 
system  was  re-estabhshed,  with  one  notable  exception : 
Parliament  would  not  consent  to  giving  up  a  single  acre 
of  the  church  property  which  its  own  members  had  ac- 
quired. For  forms  of  religion  they  cared  nothing,  and 
BO  were  ready  enough  to  humor  their  monarch ;  but  this 
was  a  practical  question  in  which  there  was  no  room  for 
sentiment. 

In  1554,  Mary  marries  Philip  of  Spain.  Some  of  her 
nobles  at  first  objected  to  the  match,  but  their  consent 
was  obtained  through  bribes  furnished  by  Philip's  fa- 
ther.* The  future  King  of  Spain  was  anxious  to  ob- 
tain the  alliance  of  England,  with  her  two  or  three  mill- 
ion inhabitants,  all  of  whose  able-bodied  men  were  sol- 
diers by  birthright ;  but  he  went  to  England  for  his 
bride  with  little  apparent  pleasure.  The  Spanish  min- 
ister advised  him  to  wear  a  shirt  of  mail  under  his 
doublet,  and  to  bring  his  own  cook,  for  fear  of  being 
poisoned.f  Arriving  in  the  country,  his  luggage  was 
plundered,  and  the  property  stolen  could  not  be  re- 
covered, nor  the  thieves  detected.:}: 

He  remained  in  England  just  long  enough  to  discover 
that  his  marriage  was  a  barren  one.  His  wife  tried  to 
cheer  him  by  burning  some  heretics,  against  which  act 
his  father's  minister  protested,  but  only  on  the  ground 
of  policy.§  But  even  this  could  not  detain  him.  It  is 
charitable  to  believe  that  his  departure  drove  Mary  into 

*  Froucle,  vi.  188.  t  Idem,  vi.  223.  J  Idem,  vi.  242. 

§  Idem,  vi.  211,  212.  This  same  faithful  minister  pointed  out  to 
Philip,  Tvho  wished  to  leave  England  after  six  weeks,  that  however 
much  his  wife  might  be  deficient  in  "  refinement,"  she  was  infinitely 
virtuous,  which  she  certainly  was.  Froude,  vi.  811.  "Politesse"  is 
the  French  word  used  by  tlie  minister,  the  meaning  of  which  the 
English  historian  hardly  gives  by  translating  it  "  agreeal:>ility." 


BLOODY   MARY— CONDITION   OF  ENGLAND  319 

madness.  In  the  three  years  thereafter  she  earned  the 
title  of  the  '"  Bloody  "  queen  by  the  atrocities  which  she 
committed  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic  religion.  Arch- 
bishop and  bishop,  priest  and  layman,  women,  children, 
and  babes  just  born,  all  perished  in  the  flames;  and  yet 
the  people  made  no  sign.  The  tale  of  the  Martyrs  is  a 
fit  close  to  the  roll  of  horror  which  begins  ^vith  the  "Wars 
of  the  Roses.  Truly  the  valley  into  which  we  have  de- 
scended is  very  deep  and  dark. 

"  IsTever,"  says  Green,  "  had  the  fortunes  of  England 
sunk  to  a  lower  ebb  than  at  the  moment  when  Elizabeth 
mounted  the  throne."  But  it  was  not  alone  the  fortunes 
of  the  State  which  had  gone  down.  Society  was  demor- 
alized, and  remained  so  during  her  entire  reign,  in  some  re- 
spects becoming  worse  instead  of  better.  Still,  it  is  hard- 
ly fair  to  charge  these  results,  as  some  would  do,  to  the 
religious  teachings  of  the  Eeformers.  We  see  in  modern 
times  that  some  savage  nations  shrivel  up  morally  before 
our  civilization,  but  do  not  attribute  this  calamity  to  the 
teachings  of  Christianity.  A  rude  people  w^ill  generally 
copy  the  vices  of  their  superiors  in  education  long  before 
they  imitate  the  virtues.  This  was  the  case  with  the 
English  when  first  brought  into  contact  with  the  intel- 
lectual movement  upon  the  Continent,  of  which  the 
Eeformation  was  only  the  religious  feature,  and  among 
them,  too,  the  Eeformation  in  time  did  good  work. 

But,  however  all  this  may  be,  and  whatever  the  causes 
which  brought  about  its  moral  and  social  condition,  we 
have  ample  material  for  a  study  in  its  every  aspect  of 
the  England  of  Elizabeth,  which  gave  birth  to  English 
and  American  Puritanism. 


CHAPTER   VI 

ELIZABETHAN    ENGLAND 
PRIVATE   LIFE,  EDUCATION,  EELIGION,  AND   MOKALS 

If  a  person  acquainted  with  the  appearance  of  the 
country  to-day  could  be  carried  back  to  the  England  of 
three  centuries  ago,  he  would  find  himself  well-nigh  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land.  Almost  nothing  before  him 
would  appear  familiar.  "We  see  now  highly  cultivated 
fields,  trim  hedges,  fat  cattle,  smooth  hard  roads,  neat 
cottages,  and  lordly  mansions ;  not  to  mention  the  vast 
manufactories  which  have  revolutionized  the  ISTorth. 
"When  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne,  only  about  one 
fourth  of  the  arable  land  was  under  cultivation,  and 
that  of  the  rudest  character;  the  remainder  was  still 
covered  with  fen  and  forest,  or  was  devoted  to  the  past- 
uring of  sheep.  Through  the  forest  the  red  deer  wan- 
dered in  thousands,  while  the  wolf,  the  w^ild  cat,  the  wild 
bull,  and  the  wild  boar  were  not  uncommon.^^  'None  of 
the  hedges  which  now  form  so  charming  a  feature  of 
the  landscape  then  lined  the  roads.  The  cattle  in  the 
fields  and  the  horses  on  the  highway  were  small  and  of 
tittle  value. 

*  The  German  traveller  Hentzner,  who  visited  England  in  1598, 
saw  a  wild  wolf  which  had  been  captured  there.  Macaulay  says 
that  the  last  one  on  the  island  was  slain  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
He  also  tells  us  that  the  wild  bull  and  the  wild  cat  were  found  in  the 
forest  in  1685.     "  History  of  England,"  chap.  iii. 


ENGLAND    LAKGELY   A    PASTORAL    LAND  321 

In  fact,  England,  which  is  now  an  agricultural,  com- 
mercial, and  manufacturing,  was  then  largely  a  pastoral 
land.  Almost  the  sole  industry  of  the  people  in  the 
rural  districts  was  the  raising  of  sheep  and  cattle.  Time 
and  again  Parliament  had  passed  laws  to  check  the  de- 
votion to  this  one  pursuit,  which  was  considered  injuri- 
ous to  the  general  welfare ;  but  all  in  vain.  The  advance 
of  the  world  in  vfealth  created  more  and  more  of  a  de- 
mand for  woven  fabrics.  The  English  wool  was  of  a 
superior  quality,  and  for  many  years  had  commanded 
high  prices  in  the  Netherlands.  Under  such  conditions 
legislation  could  do  nothing.  Individual  flocks  had 
numbered  as  high  as  twenty  thousand  sheep  ;  a  law 
passed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  limited  them  to  two 
thousand,  but  this  meant  only  a  subdivision  and  ficti- 
tious transfers.  So  long  as  it  was  profitable  wool-rais- 
ing was  continued. 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  there  was  a  vast  in- 
crease in  the  commerce  and  manufactures  of  the  I^ether- 
lands.  This  raised  still  further  the  price  of  English  avooI, 
pouring  a  constant  stream  of  wealth  into  the  country. 
In  addition,  the  English  increased  their  own  manufact- 
ures of  coarse  woollen  cloth,  and  this  added  to  the  gener- 
al disturbance  of  industrial  conditions  which  had  begun 
many  years  before.  More  land  was  turned  into  pastur- 
age, more  small  farms  were  given  up ;  men  with  newly- 
acquired  wealth  developed  a  mania  for  acquiring  land 
and  becoming  country  gentlemen;  rents  were  raised 
enormously ;  the  dispossessed  tenants  and  unemployed 
farm  laborers  flocked  into  the  towns ;  while  the  new 
landlords  cultivated  grain  only  for  their  own  consump- 
tion, selling  their  wool  to  the  manufacturers,  and  export- 
ing wool  and  cheese  to  the  Continent. 

In  time,  under  a  Ketherland  influence  which  will  be 
I.— 21 


322       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

described  hereafter,  all  kinds  of  manufactures  were  in- 
troduced, England's  commerce  was  developed,  and,  with 
markets  at  home  and  abroad  for  the  general  produce  of 
the  farm,  scientific  agriculture  finally  came  in,  and  the 
laborer  again  found  employment  on  the  land.  But  these 
results  came  about  long  after  Elizabeth  had  passed  away. 
Her  reign  was  a  period  of  social  disturbance,  caused 
largely  by  industrial  transition,  in  which  the  rich  be- 
came richer  and  the  poor  poorer.  This  is  one  of  the 
central  facts,  unnoticed  by  many  writers,  which  should 
always  be  kept  in  mind  by  any  one  who  would  under- 
stand the  history  of  this  era.* 

The  first  thing  which  struck  the  Spaniards  who  ac- 
companied Philip  II.  on  his  nuptial  tour,  in  1554,  was 
the  appearance  of  the  English  dwellings.  These,  they 
said,  were  built  of  "  sticks  and  dirt."  This  description 
might  seem  inspired  by  ill-humor,  or  one  might  think 
it  applicable  only  to  the  hovels  of  the  very  poor,  but 
for  the  survival  of  some  of  the  residences  of  the  time. 
They  are  constructed  of  a  timber  frame  filled  in  with  a 


*  See  Froude,  passim,  and  more  particularly  "  Society  in  the  Eliz- 
abethan Age,"  by  Hubert  Hall,  of  H.  M.  Public  Record  OfEce  (London, 
1886),  a  work  the  material  for  which  was  gathered  from  official  docu- 
umeuts,  many  of  which  are  printed  in  the  appendix,  supplementing 
those  given  by  Froude  and  Strype.  I  shall  refer  to  it  frequently 
hereafter,  and  take  this  opportunity  to  make  my  acknowledgments 
to  the  author  for  his  valuable  contribution  to  the  social  history  of 
this  period.  Prof.  Thorold  Rogers  expresses  the  opinion  that  the 
condition  of  the  English  working  classes  was  more  miserable  during 
the  larger  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  than  at  any  other  period 
in  their  history,  except  that  of  the  Napoleonic  wars.  See  Time, 
March,  1890.  This  is  probably  true  of  the  agricultural  laborer,  whose 
condition  had  been  getting  worse  and  worse  from  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century. 


ENGLISH    DWELLINGS— THE    SHAKESPEARE   HOUSE  323 

coarse  mortar  which  looks  like  mud.  As  probably  only 
the  best  ones  have  come  down  to  us,  common  clay  may 
have  been  used  in  the  majority.  One  of  these  houses, 
now  standing  in  Stratford,  shows  that  such  structures 
were  not  the  residences  of  the  poor  alone.  It  was  occu- 
pied by  John  Shakespeare  when  he  was  wealthy  and  fill- 
ing the  highest  municipal  office  in  his  town.  In  1876, 
an  American  scholar,  an  enthusiastic  student  of  Shake- 
speare, and  one  of  the  prominent  editors  of  his  works, 
went  to  England  for  the  first  time.  Stratford  was  of 
course  his  Mecca.  The  house  in  which  the  poet  was 
probably  born,  and  in  which  he  certainly  passed  his  boy- 
hood, he  found  had  been  externally  rejuvenated  and  its 
identity  destroyed.  Within,  however,  it  remained  un- 
changed. Let  me  quote  the  words  which  summed  up 
his  impressions  of  the  mansion  which  housed  the  High- 
bailiif ,  or  Mayor,  of  Stratford : 

"  My  heart  sank  within  me  as  I  looked  around  upon 
the  rude,  mean  dwelling-place  of  him  who  had  filled  the 
world  with  the  splendor  of  his  imaginings.  It  is  called  a 
house,  and  any  building  intended  for  a  dwelling-place  is 
a  house ;  but  the  interior  of  this  one  is  hardly  that  of  a 
rustic  cottage  :  it  is  almost  that  of  a  hovel — poverty- 
stricken,  squalid,  kennel-like — a  house  so  cheerless  and 
comfortless  I  had  not  seen  in  rural  England.  The  poor- 
est, meanest  farm-house  that  I  had  ever  entered  in  JSTew 
England  or  on  Long  Island  was  a  more  cheerful  habi- 
tation. And  amid  these  sordid  surroundings  William 
Shakespeare  grew  to  early  manhood."  *     With  illusion 


*  "  England  Without  and  Within,"  Richard  Grant  White,  p.  526. 
The  home  of  Anne  Hathaway  is  likewise  standing.  Her  family  was 
superior  socially  to  that  of  her  husband's.  This  dwelling  our  au- 
thor also  visited,  and  of  it  remarks :  "  There  is  little  to  be  said  about 


324      THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

dispelled,  this  pilgrim  regretted  that  he  had  gone  to 
Stratford. 

But  -^vhy  should  the  student  feel  such  regret  as  this  ? 
Certainly  the  works  of  the  world's  dramatist  can  only 
be  appreciated  when  we  understand  the  character  of  his 
surroundings.  Seeing  the  age  in  which  he  lived  in  its 
true  light,  his  dramas  put  on  a  new  significance,  holding, 
in  very  truth,  "  the  mirror  up  to  nature."  It  was  a  rude 
world  which  he  depicted,  full  of  passionate  hot  blood, 
boiling  over  in  all  forms  of  violence,  but  lighted  up  with 
the  glory  which  comes  but  once,  when  a  great  people  are 
awakenino;  into  life.  It  is  absurd  to  think  of  the  author 
of  these  plays  as  a  rude,  unlettered  peasant  boy  going 
up  to  London  to  seek  his  fortune.  His  father,  although 
he  lived  in  what  seems  to  some  visitors  a  hovel-like 
structure,  because  so  devoid  of  appliances  for  comfort, 
occupied  this  house  when  chief  magistrate  of  the  town 
of  Stratford.*  His  residence  seems  very  mean  when 
compared  with  the  stone  dwellings  of  the  same  date  in 
the  cities  of  the  ]!^etherlands,  and  to  modern  eyes  may 
appear  a  poverty-stricken  habitation ;  but  compare  it 
with  the  theatre  in  which  the  pla3^s  of  his  son  were 
given  to  the  world,  and  we  find  the  two  in  keeping. 

In  15T6,  the  first  theatre  was  opened  in  London,  It 
was  situated  in  Blackfriars,  and  was  erected  by  the  ser- 


this  house,  whicli  is  merely  a  thatcbcd  cottage  of  the  same  grade  as 
the  house  in  Henley  Street ;  in  its  original  condition  a  picturesque 
object  in  the  landscape,  but  the  lowliest  sort  of  human  habitation." 
— Idem,  p..  529.  See  White's  "  Shakespeare  "  for  his  preconceived  idea 
of  the  poet's  home  obtained  from  books  alone. 

*  The  house  in  Henley  Street  is  at  present  sixty-five  feet  long  and 
twenty-one  feet  deep,  with  an  extension  or  addition  on  the  rear, 
about  twenty  feet  square.  (Memorandum  of  survey  kindly  sent  me 
by  the  curator). 


THE    GLOBE    THEATRE  325 

vants  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester.  In  1594,  the  company  at 
this  playhouse,  in  which  William  Shakespeare  was  a  part- 
ner as  Avell  as  an  actor,  built  their  new  theatre,  the  fa- 
mous Globe.  Constructed  of  wood,  hexagonal  in  shape, 
it  was  surrounded  by  a  muddy  ditch,  and  surmounted 
by  a  red  flag,  which  was  elevated  into  place  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  performance  began. 
Within,  the  whole  space  was  open  to  the  elements,  ex- 
cept that  the  stage  was  covered  with  a  thatched  roof. 
Here  the  gallants  sat  on  stools  among  the  actors,  or  lay 
on  the  rush-strewn  floor,  eating,  dritiking,  playing  cards, 
and  smoking  the  tobacco  which  Kaleigh  had  just  made 
fashionable.  Below,  in  the  pit — and  the  word  meant 
something  then  —  were  gathered  the  common  people, 
standing  up,  taking  the  rain  when  it  fell,  drinking  beer, 
and,  as  it  operated,  using  a  great  upturned  barrel  which 
was  set  in  the  ground  to  receive  their  contributions. 
When  the  smell  became  too  strong,  a  cry  arose,  "  Burn 
the  juniper,"  and  the  air  was  fiUed  with  its  heavy  smoke. 
On  the  stage,  a  huge  scroll  attached  to  a  post  told  in 
large  letters  the  location  of  the  scene ;  a  bunch  of  flowers 
indicated  a  garden ;  three  or  four  supernumeraries  with 
swords  and  bucklers  represented  an  army,  and  the  roll- 
ing of  a  drum  a  pitched  battle.* 

Certainly  there  is  as  great  a  contrast  between  such  a 
theatre  as  this  and  the  modern  palace  of  the  drama  as 
appears  between  the  house  of  Shakespeare's  father  in 


*  Sir  Pbilii)  Sidney's  "  Defence  ^  Poesy ;"  Taiue's  "  English  Lit- 
erature ;"  Green  ;  Drake's  "  Shakespeare ;"  Chambers's  "  Cyclopae- 
dia of  Englisli  Literature,"  etc.  Movable  scenery  was  first  intro- 
duced after  the  Eestoration,  and  at  the  same  time  women  began  to 
take  the  female  parts,  which  before  that  date  had  been  represented 
by  boys. 


326        THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Stratford  and  the  residence  of  the  poet-laureate  of  Eng- 
land, or  that  of  a  French  dramatist  like  Hugo,  Dumas, 
or  Sardou.  The  audience  at  the  Globe  had  the  im- 
aginations of  children,  who  from  a  few  chairs  will  con- 
struct you  a  steamship  or  a  railroad  train,  and  transport 
you  in  a  moment  to  any  quarter  of  the  universe.  The 
poorer  the  children,  the  more  they  will  delight  in  the  so- 
ciety of  imaginary  princes,  and  revel  in  scenes  of  ficti- 
tious splendor.  The  poet  who  ministered  to  this  audi- 
ence was  himself  "  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time." 

But  we  have  much  more  than  the  house  in  Stratford 
to  reveal  the  characters  of  the  dwellings  of  this  period, 
Harrison,  writing  in  1580,  tells  us  that  in  the  early  days 
of  Elizabeth  the  mansion-houses  of  the  country  gentle- 
men were  little  better  than  cottages,  except  in  size,  be- 
ing thatched  buildings,  covered  on  the  outside  with  the 
coarsest  clay,  and  lighted  only  by  lattices.  Outside  of 
London,  chimneys  were  very  rare ;  the  smoke  of  the 
open  fire  being  allowed  to  escape  as  it  might,  either 
through  the  ungiazed  windows  or  by  an  aperture  in  the 
roof.* 

The  interior  of  these  dwellings  was  equally  unpreten- 


*  Harrison's  account  of  England,  prefixed  to  Holinshed's 
"Chronicles."  Chimneys  were  Bot  used  in  the  farm-liouses  of 
Cheshire  until  about  1616.  Whitaker's  "  Craven,"  quoted  by  Hal- 
lani,  "Middle  Ages,"  chap.  ix.  part  ii.  "It  is  an  error,"  says  Hal- 
lam,  "to  suppose  that  the  English  gentry  were  lodged  in  stately  or 
even  well-sized  houses.  Generally  si)eaking,  their  dwellings  were 
almost  as  inferior  to  those  of  th'eir  descendants  in  capacity  as  they 
w^ere  in  convenience.  The  usual  arrangement  consisted  of  an  en- 
trance passage  running  through  the  house,  with  a  hall  on  one  side, 
a  parlor  beyond,  and  one  or  two  chambers  above,  and  on  the  oppo- 
site side  a  kitchen,  pantry,  and  other  offices.  Such  Avas  the  ordi- 
nary manor-house  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries." — Idem. 


MANSION-HOUSES   OF   THE   GENTRY  337 

tious.  A  gentleman's  house  containing  three  or  four 
beds  was  extraordinarily  well  provided ;  few  probably 
had  more  than  two.  The  walls  were  bare,  not  even 
being  plastered.  Glass  windows,  when  they  existed, 
were  looked  upon  as  movable  furniture.  Carpets  were 
almost  unknown,  and  chairs  seem  to  have  been  a  rarity. 
An  inventory  of  the  furniture  in  Skipton  Castle,  which 
belonged  to  the  Earl  of  Cumberland  and  was  one  of  the 
most  splendid  mansions  of  the  ]Srorth,was  made  in  15Y2. 
It  shows  that  there  were  not  more  than  seven  or  eight 
beds  in  the  castle,  and  that  none  of  the  chambers  had 
chairs,  window  glass,  or  carpets.*  Among  the  better 
class  of  farmers,  the  men  slept  on  straw,  with  a  good 
round  log  for  a  bolster,  pillows  being  thought  meet 
only  for  women  in  childbirth.  The  platters  from  which 
they  ate  were  made  of  wood,  and  their  spoons  of  the 
same  material. 

As  wealth  increased,  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
many  improvements  became  apparent.  The  ancient 
timber  mansions  of  the  gentry  were  now  covered  with 
plaster,  "  which,"  says  Harrison,  "  beside  the  delectable 
whitenesse  of  the  stuffe  itselfe,  is  laied  on  so  even  and 
smoothlie,  as  nothing  in  my  judgment  can  be  done  with 
more  exactnesse."  f  The  new  mansions  were  commonly 
of  brick  or  stone,  larger  and  more  convenient.  The  walls 
were  hung  with  tapestry  or  sealed  with  oak,  and  here 
and  there  stoves  were  introduced.  The  more  general 
use  of  glass  for  windows  came  also  to  give  a  comfort 
before  unknown.:]:    The  farmers,  too,  in  the  regions  near 


*  Hallam's  "  Middle  Ages." 

t  Tacitus  describes  the  Germans  as  living  in  houses  constructed 
of  rough  timljer,  filled  in  with  shining  clay.     "  Germania,"  §  16. 
J  Harrison. 


S28       THE   PUKITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND   AMERICA 

the  capital,  felt  the  miprovement.  Their  wooden  dishes 
were  replaced  with  pewter,  added  to  which  was  an  occa- 
sional piece  of  silver ;  feather  beds  became  common,  and 
the  multitude  of  chimneys  newly  erected  excited  the  ad- 
miration of  the  old  inhabitants. 

Above  the  mansions  of  the  gentry  stood  the  castles  of 
the  great  nobles,  which,  though  few  in  number,  were  in 
some  cases  of  imposing  dimensions.  It  is  from  the  ro- 
mantic description  of  some  of  these  exceptional  struct- 
ures that  many  persons  have  formed  their  impressions 
of  the  general  magnificence  of  the  age.  Fortunately  we 
have  some  unquestionable  evidence  relating  to  the  furni- 
ture, conveniences,  and  modes  of  life  in  several  of  these 
dwellings  of  the  great,  which  may  serve  to  modify  such 
impressions.  Henry  Percy,  fifth  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land, who  died  in  1527,  was  one  of  England's  most  mag- 
nificent nobles.  When  the  Princess  Margaret,  in  1503, 
married  James  lY.  of  Scotland,  he  was  commissioned  to 
escort  the  bride  to  the  border,  and  did  so  with  a  train 
which,  according  to  the  chroniclers  of  the  time,  was  royal 
in  its  splendor.  He  had  two  lordly  castles  in  Yorkshire, 
where  he  entertained  on  an  average  fifty-seven  guests  a 
day.  His  regular  household  numbered  one  hundred  and 
fifty  -  sijc,  which  included  eleven  priests,  headed  by  a 
canon.  For  the  regulation  of  this  enormous  establish- 
ment a  most  elaborate  system  was  adopted  and  embod- 
ied in  a  "  Household  Book,"  which  provided  in  advance 
for  every  detail  of  the  daily  life,  the  duties  of  each  ser- 
vant, the  supplies  for  each  department,  and  even  the  bill 
of  fare  for  the  whole  year. 

This  book,  as  kept  for  1512,  is  still  in  existence,  and 
throws  a  world  of  fight  on  the  condition  of  the  highest 
classes  in  England,  in  at  least  the  first  quarter  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  rural  districts  it  did  not 


THE   NORTHUMBERLAND    CASTLES  339 

change  much  for  very  many  years.  In  the  first  place, 
when  the  family  moved  from  one  castle  to  another  they 
took  all  their  furniture  with  them — a  matter,  however,  of 
no  great  difficulty,  for  it  was  not  bulky.  There  seem  to 
have  been  no  glass  windows  in  either  castle.  The  dishes 
in  common  use  were  made  of  wood,  but  for  extraordi- 
nary occasions  pewter  ones  were  hired.  The  household's 
supply  of  linen  consisted  of  nine  table-cloths,  "  eight  for 
my  lord's  table,  and  one  for  that  of  the  knights."  The 
w^hole  allowance  for  the  year's  washing  amounted  to 
forty  shillings,  and  that  was  mainly  expended  on  the 
linen  in  the  chapel.  This  "was  not  extravagant,  but  was 
large  enough,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  no  sheets  or  pillow- 
cases were  used,  and  probably  none  of  the  family  wore 
underclothes,  at  least  not  any  that  ever  went  to  the  laun- 
dry.* This,  to  be  sure,  w^as  in  1512 ;  but  I  have  already 
show^n  w^hat  Skipton  Castle,  the  superb  seat  of  the  Earl 
of  Cumberland,  was  in  1572.  Viewing  the  accommo- 
dations in  such  mansions  as  these,  ^neas  Sylvius,  the 
Italian  traveller,  remarked  long  before  that  the  kings 
of  Scotland  -would  rejoice  to  be  as  well  lodged  as  the 
second  class  of  citizens  at  E^uremberg.f 

Such,  in  the  main,  when  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne, 
were  the  dwellings  and  their  accommodations  in  the  ru- 
ral part  of  England,  which  then  contained  a  much  larger 


*  "  The  Northumberland  Household  Book,"  Preface,  etc. 

t  The  new  castles  and  baronial  halls,  which  were  erected  in  con- 
siderable numbers  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  were  of  a  different 
character  from  their  predecessors,  being  much  more  fitted  for  com- 
fort. The  improvement  here,  however,  as  in  every  other  direction, 
was  due  to  a  foreign  influence,  which  in  this  case  came  largely  from 
Italy,  although,  as  I  shall  show  hereafter,  much  was  owing  to  the 
Netlierlands.  As  to  the  Italian  influence,  see  "Architecture  of  the 
Renaissance  in  England,"  by  J.  Alfred  Gotch,  1891. 


330       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND  AMERICA 

proportion  of  the  inhabitants  than  at  present.  The  whole 
population  of  the  country  probably  numbered  less  than 
three  millions,  of  whom,  perhaps,  a  hundred  thousand 
lived  in  London,  and  there  was  no  other  town  of  any 
great  size.*  London  itself,  about  the  middle  of  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  consisted  of  a  coil  of  narrow,  tortuous,  un- 
seemly streets,  each  with  a  black,  noisome  rivulet  run- 
ning through  its  centre,  and  with  rows  of  three-storied, 
leaden-roofed  houses,  built  of  timber- work,  filled  in  with 
lime,  with  man}^  gables,  and  with  the  upper  stories  over- 
hanging and  darkening  the  basements. f  These  houses 
were  stately,  compared  with  those  in  the  country,  but 
they  were  not  magnificent. 

But  outside  the  city  proper,  especially  along  the  single 
street  which  led  by  the  river's  strand  to  Westminster, 
were  some  newer  mansions  of  a  different  character. 
These  belonged  to  the  nobles,  who,  greatly  to  the  sor- 
row of  their  staid  and  conservative  brethren,  now  flocked 
to  court  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  town,  and  pick 
up  some  of  the  fat  contracts  and  lucrative  monopolies 
which  were  showered  on  the  royal  favorites.  Some  few 
of  these  men  lived  in  great  splendor ;  they  had  costly 
plate,  superb  tapestries,  and  magnificent  pieces  of  furni- 
ture, gathered  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  largely 
by  the  pirates  with  whom  they  were  often  associated  in 
partnership.    But  this  was,  in  the  main,  a  barbaric  splen- 


*  la  1631,  in  tlie  reign  of  Charles  I.,  London  had  by  actual  count  a 
little  over  130,000  inhabitants.  See  article  by  Prof.  Thorold  Rogers 
in  2Vmefor  March,  1890. 

t  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  i.  311.  In  the  reign  of  James  I. 
brick  first  came  into  general  use.  Hume,  Appendix,  "James  I."  The 
paving  of  London  began  under  Henry  VIH.  At  the  coronation  of 
Elizabeth,  the  streets  through  which  she  passed  were  newly  strewn 
with  gravel.    Strype's  "  Annals." 


RUSHES   FOR    CARPETING  331 

dor,  giving  little  evidence  of  civilization.  Entering  these 
mansions,  one  would  appreciate  the  truth  of  Kirk's  re- 
mark, that  "  the  luxuries  of  life  come  before  the  com- 
forts." *  For  an  illustration,  let  us  look  at  the  residence  of 
the  queen  herself,  which  was  the  most  magnificent  of  all. 
From  the  fourteenth  century  carpets  had  been  in  com- 
mon use  among  the  upper  classes,  both  in  France  and  in 
the  ISTetherlands,  being  laid  on  floors  of  enamelled  tiles 
or  thick  squares  of  polished  oak.f  In  1598,  Hentzner, 
the  German  traveller,  went  with  the  nobleman  whom 
he  accompanied  as  tutor  to  see  Queen  Elizabeth  in  her 
palace  at  Greenwich.  This,  the  place  of  her  birth,  was 
her  favorite  residence,  especially  in  summer.  The  queen 
appeared  richly  attired  and  loaded  down  with  jewels, 
but  the  floors  of  the  palace  were  covered  with  what  ho 
calls  hay,  being  probably  rushes.  A  century  before, 
Erasmus,  writing  of  the  habits  of  the  people,  to  which 
he  ascribed  the  frequency  of  the  plague  in  England^ 
said  of  the  houses :  "  The  floors  are  commonly  of  clay^ 
strewed  with  rushes,  under  which  lie  unmolested  an  an 
cient  collection  of  beer,  grease,  fragments,  bones,  spittle, 
and  everything  that  is  nasty."  A  hundred  years,  it 
seems,  had  made  little  change  either  in  the  covering  of 
the  floors  or  in  its  effects  upon  the  public  health,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  continuance  of  the  plague.  Carpet- 
ing was  used  at  this  time  in  England,  but  was  spread  on 
the  tables  and  not  often  on  the  floors.  In  the  latter  days 
of  Elizabeth,  according  to  Drake,  linen  was  introduced  to 
take  its  place.:]:  This,  however,  is  evidently  a  mistake,  un- 
less reference  is  made  to  a  general  introduction,  for  "  The 


*  See  p.  117. 

t  La  Croix,  "  The  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  27. 

J  Nathan  Drake,  "  Shakespeare  and  his  Times,"  p.  40'?. 


332       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Nortliurabeiiand  Household  Book"  shows  that  a  few 
table-cloths  were  used  early  in  the  century.* 

If  table  linen  was  used  among  the  wealthy  classes  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  century,  there  was  one  piece  of  table 
furniture  unknown  till  the  reign  of  James  I.,  and  that 
was  the  fork.  In  France  it  had  been  known  since  1379 ;  f 
it  was  in  common  use  among  the  Italians^  and  presum- 
ably among  the  other  Continental  nations.  In  1611, 
Thomas  Coryat  first  introduced  it  into  England,  where 
even  table-knives  had  not  been  in  general  use  until  1563.§ 
Chaucer  draws  a  very  pretty  picture  of  the  Prioress  at 
table : 

"At  mete  was  she  wel  ytanghte  witlialle; 
She  lette  no  morsel  from  hire  lippes  falle, 
Ne  wette  hire  fingres  in  hire  sauce  depe. 
Wel  coude  she  carie  a  morsel,  and  wel  kepe 
Tliatte  no  drope  ne  fell  upon  hire  brest." 

This  is  all  very  charming  in  a  poem  of  the  fourteenth 
century;  but  probably  we  should  change  some  of  our 
ideas  regarding  the  England  of  the  sixteenth  if  we  could 
look  in  upon  the  people,  even  of  the  upper  classes,  and 
see  them  dining  perhaps  off  silver,  but  eating  with  their 
fingers  and  throwing  the  bones  among  the  rushes  on  the 
floor.  II 

Much  has  been  said  by  imaginative  writers  about  the 
great  variety  and  abundance  of  food  under  which  the 


*  Wild  Will  DarrelFs  washing  bill  in  London,  for  three  months  in 
1589,  has  an  item  of  one  table-cloth  and  fourteen  napkins ;  but  he 
wore  a  clean  shirt  every  day,  although  no  underclothes  appear. 
Hall's  "Elizabethan  Society,"  p.  209. 

t  La  Croix,  "  The  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages," 

J  Nathan  Drake,  p.  407. 

§  Ibid. 

I  See  Drake  as  to  the  dining-rooms  of  the  country  gentlemen. 


THE   ENGLISHMAN'S   FOOD  333 

tables  of  the  English  people  groaned  in  the  Elizabethan 
age.  And  here  again,  as  in  the  case  of  the  dwellings, 
the  rare  exceptions  have  been  taken  for  the  rule.  Some 
few  of  the  nobles,  according  to  Harrison — and  the  nobles 
themselves  were  few  in  number* — had  French  cooks, 
and  they  were  supplied  with  a  variety  of  fresh  meats,  a 
succession  of  game,  fish,  and  fruits,  with  sweets  of  all 
descriptions.  Among  the  wealthy  merchants  of  the  city, 
and  especially  in  the  days  when  piracy  as  a  business 
was  at  its  height,  there  was  also,  doubtless,  a  variety  of 
food.  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
any  considerable  body  of  the  people  indulged  in  any- 
thing but  the  plainest  and  most  primitive  of  fare,  al 
though  this  in  most  cases  was  found  in  great  abun' 
dance,  f  

*  There  were  only  fifty-seven  peers  when  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
throne,  and  sixty-six  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

t  "  Tillage  was  changed  for  pasture-grazing.  Grain  was  dear  and 
coarse  meat  was  cheap.  Bacon  and  fish  went  out  of  use.  Game 
and  poultry  became  luxuries,  and  vegetables  were  practically  un- 
known. The  people  fed  on  salt  beef,  or  roast  and  inferior  mutton, 
with  bad  meal ;  and  this  monotonous  cheer  they  washed  down  with 
potent  liquor."  —  Hall's  "Elizabethan  Society,"  p.  76.  Vegetables 
were  not  introduced  from  the  Netherlands  until  the  next  century. 
Some  of  tlie  prices  of  the  time,  as  found  in  the  household  accounts, 
for  1589,  of  Will  Darrell,  a  wealthy  commoner,  may  interest  the 
reader.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  purchasing  value  of 
money  was  very  much  greater  than  at  present. 

IN   THE  COUNTRY,   LITTLECOTE. 

S.  d. 

Sells  wheat,  per  bushel 2  - 

"     barley,    "         "     1  1|. 

Buys  beef,  per  lb -  i^ 

"     2  bushels  of  pease 4  2 

"     1  lb.  of  sugar 1  8 

"     6  lbs.  of  hops 3  - 


334       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Even  among  the  middle  classes  and  the  gentry  the 
cheer  was  very  different  from  that  generally  pictured 
in  the  popular  imagination.     With  them  salt  fish,  salt 


IN   LONDON. 

s.    d. 

Buys  i  lb.  of  tobacco 80    - 

"     2  oz.  of  dates -     3 

"     quire  of  paper -    4 

"     a  book -    6 

"     a  pound  of  candles -     4 

"     a  lemon.... -     1 

"     oranges -     2 

"     a  quart  of  claret -     6 

"     a  pound  of  butter -    4 

"     strawberries,  3  pyntes,  May  23 -12 

"              "             1  quart,  June  11 -     6 

"     pound  of  sugar -  17 

"     a  barrel  of  beer 4    - 

"     a  quart  of  cream -     6 

"     "  a  pece  of  beef  " -14 

"     "  a  loyne  of  veale  " -22 

"     "  a  legg  of  mutton  " -16 

Washing-bill,  3  months,  self  and  servants,  shirts,  collars,  handker- 
chiefs, nightkerchiefs,  socks,  1  waistcoat,  5  sheets,  1  table-cloth,  14 
napkins,  17s.  5d.  Hall.  Turning  these  prices  into  our  American 
currency  at  even  four  for  one,  and  they  would  be  about  as  follows : 
Wheat,  per  bushel,  $2.00 ;  beef,  per  pound,  12  cents ;  hops,  48  cents ; 
sugar,  $1.60;  tobacco,  $60;  dates,  $1.72;  candles,  32  cents;  butter, 
32  cents ;  a  quire  of  paper,  32  cents ;  a  lemon,  8  cents ;  quart  of 
claret,  48  cents ;  strawberries  in  May,  per  quart,  64  cents ;  in  June, 
48  cents;  a  barrel  of  beer,  $4.00  ;  washing,  3  months,  $16.72.  It  is 
very  difficult  to  determine  the  relative  purchasing  value  of  money 
at  different  periods,  but  four  to  one  is  very  low  for  this  time.  The 
best  authorities  give  four  to  one  for  the  days  of  the  Commonwealth. 
"The  Interregnum,"  by  F.  A.  Inderwick,  p.  245.  In  Elizabeth's 
reign  the  difference  was  probably  much  greater.  For  later  prices, 
compare  Hume,  "  Hist,  of  England,"  Appendix  to  chapters  on  James  I. 


FONDNESS   FOR    SWEETS  335 

meat,  bread,  and  ale  made  up,  substantially,  the  bill  of  fare 
for  at  least  nine  months  in  the  year.  "  The  Northum- 
berland Household  Book,"  for  example,  shows  that  in 
the  family  of  that  great  earl  they  had  fresh  meat  for 
only  about  three  months — from  midsummer  to  Michael- 
mas, the  29th  of  September.  To  enable  them  to  swal- 
low the  salt  meat,  on  which  they  lived  for  the  remainder 
of  the  year,  one  hundred  and  sixty  gallons  of  mustard 
were  provided.* 

One  thing  in  regard  to  the  tastes  of  the  time  is  very 
suggestive,  and  that  is  the  fondness  for  sweets,  which 
was  common  to  all  classes.  Sugar  was  a  novelty  to 
these  islanders,  and,  having  money  for  its  purchase,  they 
ran  to  the  extravagance  of  children.  The  teeth  of  the 
women,  including  the  queen,  were  black  from  over- 
indulgence in  this  luxury.f  The  men  began  to  import 
sweet  and  other  wines  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  and,  to 
the  amazement  of  foreigners,  they  always  mixed  them 
with  sugar.:}: 

As  we  study  this  people  from  various  quarters,  and 
apply  to  them  every  kind  of  test,  we  shall  see  how  con- 
sistent is  the  picture  in  all  its  details :  the  picture  of  a 
people  with  great  energy  and  poetic  instincts,  brought 
into  contact  with  an  elder  civilization,  and  awakening 


*  "  The  Northumberland  Household  Book  "  gives  the  bill  of  faroffor 
every  member  of  the  family,  and  some  of  its  details  are  very  curious. 
My  lord  and  lady  have  for  breakfast  on  fast-days  a  quart  of  beer,  as 
much  wine,  a  loaf  of  bread,  two  pieces  of  salt  fish,  six  red  herrings, 
four  white  ones,  or  a  dish  of  sprats.  On  flesh  days,  half  a  chine  of 
mutton,  or  a  chine  of  beef  boiled.  The  young  lord  has  half  a  loaf 
of  bread,  a  quart  of  beer,  and  two  mutton  bones.  Will  Darrell, 
while  in  London,  in  1589,  fared  more  sumptuously,  but  lived  almost 
entirely  on  meats.     See  his  daily  bill  of  fare  in  Hall,  p.  212,  etc. 

t  Hentzner's  "  Travels."  f  Drake,  p.  409. 


336       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

to  a  new  life.  Look  at  the  appearance  of  a  gallant  about 
the  court.  His  beard  will  be  cut  so  as  to  resemble  a 
fan,  a  spade,  or  the  letter  T.  He  has  great  gold  rings 
in  his  ears,  set  perhaps  with  pearls  or  diamonds.  About 
his  neck  will  possibly  be  a  ribbon,  on  which  he  will 
string  his  other  jewels  for  exhibition.'-'^'  His  dress  ex- 
cites astonishment  everywhere.  He  has  no  costume  of 
his  own,  and  so  borrow^s  from  all  his  neighbors.  Portia 
describes  him,  in  speaking  of  Faulconbridge,  the  young 
baron  of  England :  "  How  oddly  he  is  suited  !  I  think 
he  bought  his  doublet  in  Italy,  his  round  hose  in  France, 
his  bonnet  in  Germany,  and  his  behavior  everywhere."  f 
IsTor  was  the  female  attire  any  less'  remarkable.  Its 
fashions,  too,  were  borrowed  from  every  quarter,  and 
changed  every  year ;  while  the  unmarried  Avomen,  copy- 
ing the  example  of  the  queen,  who  took  great  pride  in 
her  fine  figure,  decked  themselves  out  in  gowns  with 
waists  which,  from  their  scantiness,  would  put  to  the 
blush  the  most  hardened  attendant  of  a  modern  court 
reception.:}:     

*  Harrison's  "  Description  of  England ;"  Drake,  pp.  390,  397. 

t  "  Merchant  of  Venice,"  act  i.  sc.  2.  Says  a  writer  of  tlie  time :  "  I 
read  of  a  painter  that  would  paint  every  countryman  in  his  ac- 
customed apparel — the  Dutch,  the  Spaniard,  the  Italian,  the  French- 
man ;  but  when  he  came  to  the  Englishman,  he  painted  him  naked, 
ai4l  gave  him  cloth  and  bade  him  make  it  himself,  for  he  changed 
his  fashion  so  often  that  he  knew  not  how  to  make  it." — Becou's 
"Jewell  of  Joye."  See  also  Fronde,  v.  121.  Harrison,  in  describ- 
ing the  fantastic  attire  of  the  day,  says  "  that  except  it  were  a  dog 
in  a  doublet,  you  shall  not  see  any  one  so  disguised  as  are  my 
countrymen  in  England.  I  have  met  with  some  of  these  trullesj 
in  London,  so  disguised  that  it  hath  passed  my  skill  to  discover 
whether  they  were  men  or  women." 

I  Goadby's  "  England  of  Shakespeare,"  p.  63.  See  also  Hentz- 
ner's  description  of  the  dress  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 


KEVBRENCE    FOR    THE    CROWN  337 

But  although  foreign  influences  led  at  this  time  to 
much  that  was  fantastic  in  feminine  apparel,*  they 
served  one  useful  purpose,  since  they  introduced  the 
general  wearing  of  linen  fabrics  to  supplant  the  old  un- 
dergarments made  of  wool.  This  came  about  through 
the  teachings  of  the  Netherland  refugees,  who  were  dis- 
tinguished, among  other  things,  for  their  personal  neat- 
ness, and  who  first  taught  the  Englishwomen  how  to 
starch  their  ciothes.f 

If  foreigners  were  astonished  at  the  garb  of  the  Eng- 
lishman, his  fondness  for  sweets,  and  the  appearance  of 
his  dwellings,  they  were  no  less  affected  by  his  rever- 
ence for  the  crown.  So  abject  was  Parliament  in  the 
time  of  Henry  YIII.  that  when  the  king's  name  was 
mentioned  the  whole  house  stood  up  and  bowed  to  the 
vacant  throne.  :|:    But  even  this  exhibition  was  surpassed 


*  Meteren,  quoted  by  Motley,  "  United  Netherlands,"  i.  309. 

t  "  It  was  iu  the  year  1564  that  Mrs.  Dinghen  van  den  Plasse,  who 
was  born  at  Teeueu,  in  Flanders,  and  was  the  daughter  of  a  knight 
of  that  province,  came  to  London  with  her  husband  for  safety ;  she 
was  the  first  who  taught  starching  in  those  days  of  impurity.  Our 
historians  go  further,  and  condescend  to  inform  us  that  her  price 
was  about  five  pounds  to  teach  how  to  starch,  and  twenty  pounds 
how  to  seethe  starch ;  and  that  in  a  little  time  she  got  an  estate, 
being  greatly  encouraged  by  gentlemen  and  ladies."  Burn's  "  For- 
eign Protestant  Refugees,"  p.  189,  quoting  "an  old  writer." 

Stow,  in  his  "Annals,"  adds :  "  Some  very  few  of  the  best  and  most 
curious  wives  of  that  time,  observing  the  neatness  and  delicacy  of 
the  Dutch  for  whiteness  and  fine  wearing  of  linen,  made  them  cam- 
bric rufis  and  sent  them  to  Mrs.  Dinghen  to  starch,  and  after  a  while 
they  made  them  rufis  of  lawn,  which  was  at  that  time  a  stufi"  most 
strange  and  wonderful,  and  thereupon  rose  a  general  scofl'  or  by- 
word that  shortly  they  would  make  rufi"s  of  a  spider's  web,  and  then 
they  began  to  send  their  daughters  and  neatest  kinswomen  to  Mrs. 
Dinghen  to  learn  how  to  starch." 

X  Green's  "  Short  History,"  p.  355. 
I.— 22 


338        TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  When  Hentzner  was  at 
Greenwich  Palace,  he  noticed  that  whoever  spoke  to 
the  queen  fell  upon  his  knees,  and  that  when  she  walked 
through  the  presence  chamber,  all  the  lords  and  ladies, 
as  she  looked  in  their  direction,  did  the  same.  This  was 
surprising  enough,  but  much  more  was  to  come  after- 
wards. He  witnessed  the  setting  of  her  dinner-table, 
and  there  saw  this  sight :  "  A  gentleman  entered  the 
room  bearing  a  rod,  and  along  with  him  another  who 
had  a  table-cloth,  which,  after  they  had  both  kneeled 
three  times  with  the  utmost  veneration,  he  spread  upon 
the  table,  and  after  kneeling  again  they  both  retired. 
Then  came  two  others,  one  with  the  rod  again,  the  other 
with  a  salt-cellar,  a  plate,  and  bread;  when  they  had 
kneeled  as  the  others  had  done,  and  placed  what  was 
brought  upon  the  table,  they  too  retired  with  the  same 
ceremonies  performed  by  the  first.  At  last  came  an 
unmarried  lady — we  were  told  she  was  a  countess— and 
along  with  her  a  married  one,  bearing  a  tasting-knife ; 
the  former  was  dressed  in  white  silk,  who,  when  she 
had  prostrated  herself  three  times  in  the  most  graceful 
manner,  approached  the  table  and  rubbed  the  plates 
with  bread  and  salt,  with  as  much  awe  as  if  the  queen 
had  been  present."  After  this  ceremony  the  dishes 
were  brought  in,  tasted,  and  then  carried  to  the  private 
dining-room  of  her  majesty.* 

Such  genuflections  before  a  table-cloth  and  salt-cellar 
betoken  a  remarkable  condition  of  society.  If  these 
acts  of  reverence,  which  men  usually  reserve  for  their 
Creator,  were  thus  performed  before  a  scrap  of  linen 
and  a  piece  of  silver,  because  the  queen  was  about  to 


*  Hentzner's  "  Travels."     The  tasting  was  to  detect  poison,  and 
was  not  uncommon  in  other  countries. 


ELIZABETH   AS   A    GODDESS  339 

use  them,  wliat  must  have  been  the  awe  with  which 
the  people  looked  upon  the  queen  herself !  Giordano 
Bruno,  the  famous  Italian  philosopher,  throws  some 
light  upon  this  question.  He  visited  England  in  1583, 
and  remained  two  years.  Subsequently,  returning  to 
Rome,  he  was  accused  of  heresy  and  burned  at  the 
stake.  One  of  the  charges  brought  against  him  by  the 
Inquisition  was  that  he  had  described  the  heretical 
Elizabeth  as  a  goddess.  In  reply,  he  said  that  in  his 
book  he  praised  the  Queen  of  England,  calling  her  a 
goddess,  not  in  religion,  but  as  an  epithet  given  by  the 
ancients  to  princes;  and  in  England,  where  he  wrote 
the  book,  it  is  their  habit  to  give  the  title  of  goddess 
to  the  queen."'^  This  goddess,  as  she  appears  to  us  in 
history,  seems  a  strange  divinity  to  worship ;  but,  after 
all,  she  was  only  a  type  of  her  people,  and  in  her  we 
can  read  their  character.f 

The  servility  which  characterized  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth was  not  confined  to  the  royal  court.  Erasmus, 
when  in  England,  wrote  to  a  friend  saying  that  he  would 


*  "  Life  of  Bruno,"  by  Frith,  p.  110.  The  courtiers  around  Eliza- 
beth had  not  studied  the  classics  for  nothing.  When  she  is  sixty, 
Raleighi  thus  speaks  of  her  in  a  letter  intended  for  her  perusal :  "  I, 
that  was  wont  to  see  her  riding  like  Alexander,  hunting  like  Diana, 
walking  like  Venus,  the  gentle  wind  blowing  her  fair  hair  about  her 
pure  cheeks  like  a  nymph,  sometimes  sitting  in  the  shade  like  a 
goddess,  sometimes  singing  like  an  angel,  sometimes  playing  like 
Orpheus ;  behold  the  sorrow  of  this  world :  once  amiss  hath  be- 
reaved me  of  all." 

t  James  I.  dispensed  with  the  genuflections  of  his  courtiers ;  but, 
still,  he  compared  himself  with  the  Saviour.  "  Christ  had  his  John, 
and  I  have  my  George,"  referring  to  Buckingham.  Abbot's  "  Bacon," 
p.  280.  In  a  public  proclamation  issued  in  1610,  he  speaks  of  kings 
and  princes  as  "  gods  on  earth."  Taswell  -  Langmead's  "  Const. 
Hist,  of  England,"  p.  508. 


340       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

find  the  great  people  most  agreeable  and  gracious,  but 
warning  him  not  to  presume  upon  their  intimacy,  since 
they  regarded  themselves  as  gods.*  A  century  later, 
the  noble  lord  who  serves  his  queen  kneeling  demands 
the  same  condescension  from  his  inferiors  when  they 
wait  on  him.  It  is  only  when  we  appreciate  the  depth 
of  this  feeling  that  we  can  comprehend  the  force  of  the 
recoil  in  the  next  century,  which,  for  a  time,  levelled  all 
distinctions  of  rank  and  sent  a  monarch  to  the  scaffold. 
With  the  Restoration  the  servility  returns.  Charles  II., 
while  at  his  meals,  ostentatiously  called  Grammont's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  his  officers  served  him  on 
their  knees.  Grammont,  as  unaccustomed  to  English 
cooking  as  to  English  manners,  replied  :  "  I  thank  your 
majesty  for  the  explanation ;  I  thought  they  were  beg- 
ging pardon  for  giving  you  so  bad  a  dinner."f 

Hentzner,  while  in  London,  had  an  opportunity  also 
of  seeing  some  of  the  amusements  of  the  city  people. 
The  favorite  sports  were  bull-baiting,  bear-baiting,  and 
bear-whipping,  for  which  a  theatre  was  especially  pro- 
vided. For  baiting,  the  bull  or  bear  was  securely  chained, 
and  then  set  upon  by  dogs,  who  worried  him  to  death. 
To  witness  this  was  a  charming  recreation,  but  it  was 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  bear-beating,  in  which  the 
unhappy  brute,  being  chained  to  a  post  and  blindfolded, 
was  flogged  to  death  with  whips.:}:  In  this  diversion 
there  was  little  of  the  excitement  which  attends  a  bull- 
fight, where  skill  and  nerve  are  required  by  the  success- 


*  "  The  noble  lords  are  gods  in  tlieir  own  eyes." — "  Times  of  Eras- 
mus and  Lutlier ;"   Fronde's  "  Short  Studies,"  j).  69. 

t  "  Grammont's  Memoirs,"  Bohn's  ed.  p.  25.  This  custom  was 
not  finally  given  up  until  the  reign  of  George  I.  Lecky's  "  England 
in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  i.  239. 

I  Hentzner's  "  Travels." 


POPULAR   SPORTS-EDUCATION  341 

ful  matadore ;  but  if  the  bear  made  noise  enough  and  was 
long  enough  in  dying,  the  amusement  must  have  been  in- 
tense. ]N"or  was  it  the  masses  alone  that  enjoyed  these 
sports ;  they  were  the  particular  delight  of  the  nobles 
and  of  Queen  Elizabeth  herself.  In  fact,  the  Privy 
Council,  in  1591,  issued  an  order  that  no  plays  should  he 
exhibited  on  Thursday,  because  on  that  day  bear-baiting 
and  such  like  pastime  had  been  usually  practised,  "which 
are  maintained  for  her  majesty's  pleasure."  With  them 
she  entertained  foreign  ambassadors,  and  when  she  made 
her  famous  visit  to  Kenilworth,  thirteen  bears  were  pro- 
vided for  her  diversion,  being  baited  with  a  large  species 
of  ban-dog.*  It  may  be  that  the  Puritan,  when  he  abol- 
ished these  exhibitions,  cared  nothing  for  the  bear ;  he 
certainly  conferred  a  service  on  humanity  by  doing  away 
with  such  brutalizing  sights. f 

Having  seen  something  of  the  Englishman's  dwelling, 
his  food,  costume,  manners,  and  sports,  let  us  now  con- 
sider his  education,  religion,  and  morals. 

And  first  we  must  notice  that  in  regard  to  the  learn- 
ing of  this  time  a  most  exaggerated  notion  prevails  in 
some  quarters,  the  result  of  judging  of  a  whole  people 
from  a  few  isolated  individuals.  Elizabeth  had  been 
brought  up  in  comparative  seclusion  until  she  ascended 
the  throne,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  Her  father,  despite 
his  faults,  was  a  friend  of  letters,  and  gave  his  daughters, 
who  were  in  the  line  of  succession  to  the  throne,  such  an 
education  as  was  fitted  for  an  English  monarch  of  the 


*  Drake,  p.  430. 

f  In  1603,  James  I.  by  a  proclamation  prohibited  bear-baiting  and 
bull-baiting  on  the  Sabbath.  Strype's  "Annals,"  iv.  379.  The  bull- 
baiting  was  re-established  after  the  Restoration,  and  continued  to  be 
a  favorite  amusement  all  through  the  eighteenth  century.  Lecky, 
1.  598. 


343         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

day.  That  Elizabeth  should  have  spoken  four  or  five 
languages  is  of  itself  little  proof  of  intellectual  cultiva- 
tion. All  the  better  class  of  Russians  do  the  same  to- 
day, while  couriers  and  boys  brought  up  in  such  polyglot 
centres  as  Constantinople  often  speak  ten  or  twelve. 

But,  apart  from  this,  the  queen  carried  to  the  throne  a 
love  of  the  classics,  which  she  retained  all  through  her 
life.  She  read  and  translated  the  Latin  authors,  and, 
what  was  more  rare  in  England,  she  also  read  Greek. 
In  addition,  she  made  these  studies  fashionable  at  court, 
so  that  several  other  ladies  pursued  them  with  success. 
Judging  in  a  loose,  general  way  from  these  well-known 
facts,  many  persons  reason  that  if  the  women  of  that 
day  had  such  accomplishments,  the  acquisitions  of  the 
men  must  have  been  phenomenal.  But  here  is  the  mis- 
take. Elizabeth,  in  her  education,  as  in  many  of  her 
traits  of  character,  was  more  of  a  man  than  a  woman.* 
Roger  Ascham,  her  Greek  teacher,  said,  though  perhaps 
panegyrically,  that  she  devoted  more  time  to  reading 
and  study  than  any  six  gentlemen  of  her  court,  and  that 
she  read  more  Greek  with  him  at  Windsor  Castle  every 
day  than  some  prebendaries  of  the  Church  read  Latin, in 
a  week.f        

*  Sir  Eobert  Cecil  said  of  her  that  she  "  was  more  than  a  man,  and 
(in  troth)  somtyme  less  than  a  woman."  —  Harrington's  "Nugse  An- 
tiquse,"  i.  345,  Letters  of  1603. 

t  Roger  Ascham's  "  Scholemaster,"  p.  63,  Mayor's  ed.,  1863.  A 
specimen  of  the  English  written  by  Elizabeth  is  given  in  the  follow- 
ing prayer,  which  she  composed  in  1597  : 

"  Oh  God,  Almaker,  keeper,  and  guider,  inurement  of  thy  rare 
seen,  unused,  and  seel'd  heard  of  goodness  poured  in  so  plentiful  a 
sort  upon  us  full  oft,  breeds  now  this  boldness  to  crave  with  bowed 
knees  and  hearts  of  humility  thy  large  hand  of  helloing  power,  to 
assist  with  wonder  our  just  cause,  not  founded  on  pride's  motion,  or 
begun  on  malice  stock,  but,  as  thou  best  knowest,  to  whom  nought 


EXAGGEKATED   NOTIONS    OF    ENGLISH   SCHOLARSHIP  343 

It  is  from  her  reputation  for  learning,  with  that  of  a 
few  ladies  of  her  court,  and  some  of  the  men  distin- 
guished in  civil  life,  such  as  Smith,  Sadler,  and  Ealeigh, 
that,  as  the  iconoclastic  Hallam  says,  "  the  general  char- 
acter of  her  reign  has  been,  in  this  point  of  view,  con- 
siderably overrated."''^  Such  learning  as  existed  in  the 
island  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  classics, 
which  the  people  of  the  Continent,  and  especially  the 
Italians,  had  been  cultivating  for  two  centuries.f     Of 


is  hid,  grounded  ou  just  defence  from  wrongs,  hate,  and  bloody  de- 
sire of  conquest,  for  since  means  thou  hast  imparted  to  save  that 
thou  has  given  by  enjoying  such  a  people  as  scorns  their  bloodshed, 
■where  surety  ours  is  one.  Fortify,  dear  God,  such  hearts  in  such  sort 
as  their  best  part  maybe  worst,  that  to  the  truest  part  meant  worse, 
with  least  loss  to  such  a  nation  as  depise  their  lives  for  their  country's 
good ;  that  all  foreign  lands  may  laud  and  admire  the  omnipotency 
of  thy  works,  a  fact  alone  for  thee  only  to  perform.  So  shall  thy 
name  be  spread  for  wonders  wrought,  and  the  faithful  encouraged  to 
repose  in  thy  unfellqwed  grace;  and  we  that  minded  nought  but 
right,  enchained  in  thy  bonds  for  perpetual  slavery,  and  live  and  die 
the  sacrifisers  of  our  souls  for  such  obtained  favors.  Warrant,  dear 
Lord,  all  this  witli  thy  command." — Strj'pe,  "  Annals,"  iv.  440. 

Those  persons  who,  from  the  flatterers  of  Elizabeth,  have  formed  a 
high  opinion  of  her  literary  attainments,  may,  with  considerable 
profit,  study  this  production,  which  is  given  just  as  she  wrote  it  for 
public  use  in  the  churches,  free  from  the  emendations  of  modern  edi- 
tors. If  she  wrote  and  sjDoke  other  languages  in  the  same  manner, 
she  might,  without  great  eifort,  have  mastered  a  large  number. 

*  Hallam's  "  Literature  of  Europe,"  ii.  39.  Again,  speaking  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Primate  of  the  English  Church,  the 
same  author  remarks :  "  Whitgift  was  not  of  much  learning,  if  it  be 
true  that,  as  the  editors  of  the  '  Biographia  Britannica '  intimate,  he 
had  no  acquaintance  with  tlie  Greek  language.  This  must  seem 
strange  to  those  who  have  an  exaggerated  notion  of  the  scholarship 
of  that  age."— Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  202,  note. 

t  The  Continental  scholars  at  this  time,  in  addition  to  Greek  and 
Latin,  were  cultivating  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Arabic,  etc.    See  last  chapter. 


344       THE   rURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND  AMERICA 

science  the  English  knew  abnost  nothing,  and  even  the 
study  of  the  simpler  branches  of  mathematics  was  repro- 
bated by  men  like  Ascham.* 

Bruno,  when  he  visited  England  in  1583,  met  most  of 
the  men  who  were  accounted  scholars.  He  expounded 
to  them  the  theory  that  the  earth  revolves  around  the 
sun,  but  he  made  few  converts.  Going  to  Oxford,  he 
describes  the  Dons,  who  were  court  nominees,  as  "  men 
arrayed  in  long  robes  of  velvet,  with  hands  most  precious 
for  the  multitude  of  precious  stones  on  their  fingers, 
golden  chains  about  their  necks,  and  with  manners  as 
void  of  courtesy  as  cowherds."  The  students  were  igno- 
rant, boorish,  and  indevout,  occupied  in  horse-play,  drink- 
ing, and  duelling,  toasting  in  ale-houses,  and  graduating 
in  the  noble  science  of  self-defence.f  The  learned  Italian 
lectured  at  the  university  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  other  kindred  subjects,  and  was  near  coming  to 
blows  with  the  pedagogues,  who  were  slenderly  endowed 
Avith  arguments.  He  found  them  armed,  not  with  pru- 
dence and  power,  but  with  "hearts  that  died  of  cold, and 
learning  that  died  of  hunger."  Eeturning  to  London,  he 
met  a  little  circle  of  congenial  spirits,  and  formed  with 
them  a  society,  in  imitation  of  the  Italian  academies, 
which  numbered  among  its  members  Sidney,  Greville, 
Dyer,  and  Temple.;]: 


*  "The  Scholemaster,"  pp.  14,  210. 

t  The  examination  for  a  degree  was  merely  nominal.  A  man 
might  graduate  from  a  university,  and  yet  be  almost  illiterate.  Hal- 
lam's  "  Literature  in  Europe,"  ii.  308. 

I  Fritli's  "Life  of  Bruno,"  pp.  121,  125,  128.  Still,  after  Bruno's 
visit,  England  produced  three  scientific  men,  of  whom  any  country 
might  be  proud— Harvey,  Gilbert,  and  Hariott.  All,  however,  had 
pursued  their  studies  on  the  Continent. 


KEFOEM  OF  THE  CALENDAR  345 

After  leaving  England,  Bruno  went  to  Germany,  where 
he  resided  for  several  years.  For  the  learning  which  he 
found  there,  the  readiness  to  entertain  new  ideas,  the  de- 
votion to  art,  and  the  general  kindliness  of  the  people,  he 
was  filled  with  unbounded  admiration.  Speaking  of  tlie 
seven  branches  of  university  education,  he  called  them 
the  seven  pillars  of  wisdom.  On  these  pillars,  he  said, 
wisdom  built  her  home,  first  in  Egypt,  then  in  Persia 
under  Zoroaster,  next  in  India,  then  in  Thrace,  Greece, 
and  Italy,  and  finally  in  Germany.* 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  scientific  education  in 
England,  we  may  well  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider 
an  event  which  occurred  in  the  year  preceding  Bruno's 
arrival — an  event  Avhich  forms  a  landmark  in  history, 
and  the  reception  of  which  among  the  English  is  of 
great  significance. 

When  Julius  Csesar  made  his  famous  reform  of  the 
calendar,  the  scientific  men  of  Kome  calculated  that  the 
year  consisted  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  and 
a  quarter,  and  they  therefore  provided  for  the  addition 
of  a  day  in  every  fourth  year.  After  some  sixteen  cen- 
turies this  calculation  was  found  to  be  slightly  erroneous, 
and  for  some  time  the  scholars  of  Italy  had  been  work- 


*  "  Since  the  empire  has  been  in  this  land,"  he  says,  "  more  genius 
and  art  is  to  be  met  with  than  among  other  nations."  Again,  he  re- 
marks that  there  is  something  "truly  divine  in  the  spirit  of  that 
nation."  These  and  other  remarks  of  a  like  character  in  Bruno's 
writings,  showing  the  contrast  between  England  and  Germany  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  before  the  devastation  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  wiped  out  German  civilization,  seem  to  have  escaped  the  notice 
of  the  English  biographer  of  the  great  Italian.  Some  of  them  will 
be  found  quoted  in  an  article  on  Bruno,  by  Karl  Blind,  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  for  July,  1889.  See  also  as  to  England,  Whewell's 
"  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,"  article  "  Bruno." 


346       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

ing  over  the  problem  of  its  correction.  Finally,  in  1581, 
they  solved  the  problem,  arrived  at  the  exact  length 
of  the  solar  year — within  some  thirty  seconds — and 
discovered  that  the  world  was  ten  days  behind  the 
true  time.  Accordingly,  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  issued 
a  proclamation,  which  provided  for  dropping  these  ten 
days  in  October,  1582,  and  also  pointed  out  to  future 
generations  that  by  the  omission  of  three  days  in  each 
four  hundred  years  thereafter  all  substantial  errors 
would  be  obviated.  In  the  ISTetherland  states,  ruled  by 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  this  reform  was  at  once  adopted. 
Already  they  had  changed  the  day  for  beginning  the 
new  year  from  the  25th  of  March  to  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary.* And  now,  however  they  might  differ  from  Italy 
in  questions  of  religion,  they  purposed  to  keep  touch  in 
mere  scientific  matters. 

The  English,  however,  who  knew  and  cared  nothing 
about  astronomy,  saw  no  necessity  for  an  alteration  of 
the  calendar.  For  nearly  two  centuries  thereafter  their 
country  occupied  towards  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
the  position  in  this  matter  which  semi-barbarous  Eussia 
holds  to  day.  It  was  not  until  1752  that,  by  an  act  of 
Parliament,  her  calendar  was  corrected  by  the  omission 
of  the  superfluous  days,  and  that  the  beginning  of  the 
legal  year  was  fixed  at  the  1st  of  January  instead  of  at 
the  25th  of  March.  Hence,  during  this  whole  period  we 
have  to  calculate  the  dates  in  English,  as  compared  with 
those  in  Continental  history,  by  changing  them  from 
Old  to  New  Style.  The  preamble  to  the  act  of  Par- 
liament by  which  the  change  was  finally  brought  about 
in  England  reads  as  if  a  great  discovery  had  just  been 


*  Davies's  "Holland,"  ii.  30;  Brodhead's  "Hist,  of  New  York," 
i.  443. 


CHANGE  OF  THE  CALENDAR  IN  ENGLAND        347 

made.  It  begins  :  "  Whereas,  the  Julian  calendar  hath 
been  discovered  to  be  erroneous,  by  means  whereof  the 
spring  equinox,  which  at  the  Council  of  Nice,  a.  d.  325, 
happened  on  the  21st  of  March,  now  happens  on  the 
tenth  day  of  the  same  month  ;  and  the  said  error  is  still 
increasing."  Then  follows  the  enactment  providing  for 
dropping  eleven  days  in  September  and  for  beginning 
the  next  legal  year  with  the  1st  of  January.  It  took 
nearly  two  centuries  for  the  Parliament  of  England  to 
discover  that  the  Julian  calendar  was  erroneous,  but 
even  then  it  displayed  great  courage  in  correcting  the 
mistake.  The  people  could  not  understand  the  matter, 
and  complained  bitterly  that  their  rulers  were  robbing 
them  of  a  portion  of  their  lives.  In  fact,  as  is  shown 
by  Hogarth's  picture  of  the  "Election  Entertainment" 
—  engraved  in  1755 — "Give  us  our  eleven  days,"  be- 
came a  regular  party  cry  of  the  opposition.* 

Such  was  the  condition  of  learning  at  the  English 
universities,  and  among  the  highest  classes  at  the  court 
while  Elizabeth  was  on  the  throne.  A  few  scholars,  very 
few  in  number,  studied  Latin  and  Greek  imperfectly  and 


*  It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  way  in  which  the  matter  of  reform- 
ing the  calendar  in  England  is  treated  by  modern  English  writers, 
who,  in  this  as  in  most  other  matters,  overlook  the  comparative 
backwardness  of  their  forefathers,  and  so,  by  insinuation  if  not 
directly,  atti'ibute  the  delay  to  the  intense  Protestantism  of  the 
country  Avhich  objected  to  a  measure  originating  with  the  pope.  But 
Scotland,  much  more  intensely  Protestant,  which  was  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Continental  scholars,  reformed  her  calendar  in  1600,  and 
Denmark  and  Sweden,  the  last  of  the  Protestant  states  in  1700,  more 
than  half  a  century  before  England  took  her  action.  It  is  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  Lord  Burghley  that  he  urged  the  adoption  of  the 
change  in  England  when  it  was  first  introduced  upon  the  Continent. 
Strype's  "  Annals,"  ii.  355. 


348       THE    PUKITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

little  else.  Of  the  poets  I  shall  speak  hereafter,  when 
I  come  to  discuss  the  outburst  of  national  energy  which 
followed  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada ;  but  it 
may  be  noticed  here  that  in  prose  literature  nothing  of 
any  importance  appeared  until  the  publication,  in  1594, 
of  the  first  four  books  of  Hooker's  "  Ecclesiastical  Pol- 
ity." Up  to  that  date  England  was  about  as  barren  of 
prose  authors  as  of  scholars.* 

Taking  it  all  in  all,  this  is  not  a  lofty  nor  an  extensive 
elevation,  but  it  springs  from  a  valley  very  dark  and 
deep.  Looking  at  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  people 
at  large,  we  shall  find  that  it  corresponds  with  every- 
thing else  which  we  have  noticed  in  their  life.  In  1547, 
only  eleven  years  before  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne. 
Parliament  passed  a  law,  giving  the  benefit  of  clergy  to 
peers  of  the  realm  who  should  be  convicted  of  certain 
crimes,  even  though  they  could  not  read.f  If  some  of 
the  peers  of  the  realm,  only  about  sixty  in  number,  did 
not  know  their  letters,  what  should  we  expect  of  the 
men  next  below  them  ?  The  fact  is,  that  in  the  rural 
districts  to  read  and  write  were  esteemed  rare  accom- 
plishments all  through  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and,  even 
among  the  gentry  below  the  first  degree,  there  was 
little  difference  in  literary  accomplishments  between  the 
master  and  his  boorish  attendants.:}: 


*  Hallam's  ''Const.  Hist.,"  i.  217.  "It  must  be  owned  by  every 
one,  not  absolutely  blinded  by  a  love  of  scarce  books,  that  the  prose 
literature  of  the  queen's  reign,  taken  generally,  is  but  very  mean." — 
Hallam's  "  Literature  of  Europe,"  ii.  256. 

1 1  Edward  VI.,  cap.  12. 

I  Drake,  p.  210.  In  the  time  of  James  I.,  as  Burton  tells  us, 
though  tliere  was  a  sprinkling  of  the  gentry,  here  and  there  one,  ex- 
cellently well  learned,  yet  the  major  part  were  bent  wholly  on  hawks 


IGNORANCE    OP   THE    MIDDLE    AND    LOWER    CLASSES  349 

When  noAV  we  descend  one  step  lower,  we  reach  a 
class  almost  wholly  illiterate.  Shakespeare's  father  be- 
longed to  this  order.  He  was  High-bailiff  of  Stratford, 
but  could  not  even  write  his  name;  neither  could  the 
poet's  daughter  Judith,  nor  even  the  eldest  daughter  of 
the  immortal  Milton.-  Out  of  nineteen  aldermen  in 
Stratford,  when  Shakespeare  was  born,  1564,  only  six 
could  write  their  names.f  Nor  was  this  ignorance  con- 
fined to  the  laymen.  In  1578,  according  to  JSTeal,  out  of 
one  hundred  and  forty  clergymen  in  Cornwall  belong- 
ing to  the  Established  Church,  not  one  was  capable  of 
preaching,  and  throughout  the  kingdom  those  who 
could  preach  were  in  the  proportion  of  about  one  to 
four.:|: 


and  hounds,  "  and  carried  away  many  times  with  intemperate  lust, 
gaming,  and  drinking."  If  they  read  a  book  at  any  time,  "'tis  an 
English  Chronicle,  Sir  Huon  of  Bordeaux,  Amadis  de  Gaule,  etc.,  a 
play  book,  or  some  pamphlet  of  news,  and  that  at  seasons  only  when 
they  cannot  stir  abroad." — Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy," 
fol.  ed.  p.  84.  Even  in  the  reign  of  James  II.,  the  average  coun- 
try squire  had  not  made  much  improvement.  "Many  lords  of 
manors,"  says  Macaulay,  "  had  received  an  education  differing  little 
from  that  of  their  menial  servants.  The  heir  of  an  estate  often 
passed  his  boyhood  and  youth  at  the  seat  of  his  family,  with  no 
better  tutors  than  grooms  and  gamekeepers,  and  scarce  attained 
learning  enough  to  sign  his  name  to  a  mittimus."  —  Macaulay's 
"Hist,  of  England,"  chap.  iii.  These  were  tlie  men  who,  elected 
to  Parliament,  formed  the  House  of  Commons.  But  if  they  knew 
little  of  books,  they  had  some  fixed  ideas  regarding  civil  freedom. 

*  Drake,  p.  629.  Masson's  "  Milton,"  vi.  447.  Milton's  younger 
daughters,  after  his  blindness,  read  to  him  books  in  various  foreign 
languages,  but  they  did  not  understand  a  word  of  what  they  read. 
"Memoir  of  ^lilton,"  by  his  nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  1694. 

t  Knight. 

I  Neal's  "History  of  the  Puritans."  Hallam  says  that  "this  may 
be  deemed  by  some  an  instance  of  Neal's  prejudice.     But  that  his- 


350        THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

It  is  very  interesting,  while  on  the  subject  of  educa- 
tion, to  compare  the  English  people  in  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth with  their  ancestors  three  hundred  years  earher,  be- 
fore the  ISTorman  influence  had  disappeared.  The  Eev. 
Dr.  Jessopp,  an  eminent  English  antiquarian,  has  re- 
cently discovered  a  great  mass  of  documents  relating 
to  Rougham,  a  small  parish  in  I^orfolk,  from  which  its 
continuous  history  can  be  traced  for  the  past  six  cen- 
turies. In  an  essay  entitled  "  Yillage  Life  Six  Hundred 
Years  Ago,"  to  which  brief  allusion  has  been  made  in 
the  last  chapter,  he  gives  an  account  of  this  parish  in 
the  days  of  Edward  I.  So  far  as  the  general  mode  of 
life,  the  dwellings  of  the  people,  their  occupations,  and 
their  morality  are  concerned,  this  account  might  be 
taken  for  a  description  of  a  rural  parish  in  the  time  of 
Elizabeth,  as  portrayed  by  the  writers  of  the  latter  pe- 
riod. In  scarcely  one  particular  is  an  improvement  visi- 
ble, while  in  some  directions  there  was  a  great  deteriora- 
tion. Six  hundred  years  ago  the  farms  were  all  very 
small,  in  this  parish  never  exceeding  two  hundred  acres, 
and  were  cultivated  by  a  class  of  yeomen  who,  although 
nominally  tenants,  as  every  one  was  under  the  feudal 
system,  were  in  fact  the  substantial  owners  of  the  soil. 

But  the  most  remarkable  f alling-off  was  in  the  matter 
of  education,  and  the  results  of  the  researches  of  the  an- 
tiquarian in  relation  to  this  subject  may  astonish  those 
persons  who  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  prog- 
ress of  the  English  people  as  continuous.  The  parish 
which  Dr.  Jessopp  investigated  contained  less  than 
three  thousand  acres,  and  ^vas  purely  agricultural.     It 


torian  is  not  so  ill-informed  as  they  suppose ;  and  the  fact  is  highly 
probable."  "The  majority  of  the  clergy  were  nearly  illiterate." — 
"  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  303. 


CONDITION   OF   KELIGION  351 

had  a  village  church,  but  no  monastery,  abbey,  or  other 
religious  house  to  attract  ecclesiastics.  And  yet  he 
found,  by  the  records,  that  during  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
there  were  at  the  same  time  eight,  and  probably  ten  or 
twelve,  persons  in  this  little  parish  who  knew  how  to 
write  w^ell.  He  ventures  the  opinion,  from  his  investi- 
gations in  various  quarters,  that,  in  proportion  to  the 
inhabitants,  the  number  of  persons  who  could  wa^ite  had 
not  increased  in  England  during  the  last  six  centuries, 
until  about  forty  years  ago.* 

Such  being  the  state  of  education  among  the  subjects 
of  "  Good  Queen  Bess,"  what  shall  we  say  of  religion 
and  morality  ?  If  there  is  no  more  connection  between 
moral  and  intellectual  development  than  some  persons 
imagine,  w^e  might  expect  this  people  to  be  at  least  de- 
vout and  moral.  Let  us  see  W'hat  w^ere  the  facts.  In 
the  first  place,  as  to  religion,  looking  only  at  the  sur- 
face, it  seemed  to  many  persons  as  if  there  were  none  in 
the  land.    The  revival  of  learning  at  court  w^as,  as  Taine 


*  "The  Coming  of  the  Friars,  and  otlier  Historical  Essays,"  by 
the  Rev.  Augustus  Jessopp,  D.D.  ( G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1889). 
Prof.  Thorold  Rogers  states  that  there  was  no  improvement  in 
English  agriculture  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  to  that  of  Eliz- 
abeth, and  that  probably  less  land  was  under  cultivation  at  the 
latter  date.  Time^  March,  1890.  John  Foster,  in  his  work  on 
"  Popular  Ignorance,"  makes  some  very  just  remarks  on  the  deg- 
radation and  illiteracy  of  the  English  people  at  large,  amoiig 
whom  flourished  the  Intellectual  chiefs  who  have  given  a  facti- 
tious character  to  the  Elizabethan  age.  He  also  uses  very  trencli- 
ant  language  in  relation  to  tlie  governing  classes  of  that  country, 
who,  until  a  very  recent  date,  allowed  "  an  incalculable  and  ever- 
increasing  tribe  of  human  creatures  to  grow  up  in  a  condition  to 
show  what  a  wretched  and  offensive  thing  is  human  nature  left  to 
itself."     See  Bohn's  ed.,  1856,  Preface,  and  p.  63,  etc. 


353        THE  PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

has  well  said,  a  pure  Pagan  Eenaissance.  The  authors 
read  were  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  or  the  poets  and 
story-tellers  of  Italy,  who  in  the  main  were  as  irrelig- 
ious as  they  were  immoral.  Here  and  there  might  be 
found  a  noble  who  had  some  notions  of  religion,  but,  al- 
though from  the  queen  down  they  all  talked  about  it, 
the  earnest  believers  were  rarely  found  in  the  upper 
circles.  One  of  them  Avas  the  Earl  of  Essex,  whose 
widow  married  Leicester.  He  died,  in  1576,  like  a 
patriot  and  a  Christian,  his  last  thoughts  being  turned 
towards  his  country  and  his  God.  "  He  prayed  much 
for  the  noble  realm  of  England,"  said  a  bystander,  "  for 
which  he  feared  many  calamities."  Of  his  countrymen 
he  said  :  "  The  Gospel  had  been  preached  to  them,  but 
they  were  neither  Papists  nor  Protestants ;  of  no  religion, 
but  full  of  pride  and  iniquity.  There  was  nothing  but 
infidelity,  infidelity,  infidelity ;  atheism,  atheism ;  no 
religion,  no  religion."  * 

Well  might  the  dying  earl  take  a  gloomy  view  of  the 
religious  situation.  In  many  of  the  dioceses  at  least  a 
third  of  the  parishes  had  no  clergymen  at  all.f  Where 
the  livings  were  filled,  the  incumbents,  in  a  majority  of 
cases,  were  nearly  illiterate,  and  often  addicted  to  drunk- 
enness and  other  low  vices.:}:  As  the  patrons,  under  the 
remarkable  system  which  still  prevails  in  England,  se- 
lected the  clergymen,  and  often  chose  their  bakers, 
butlers,  cooks,  or  stablemen  to  fill   the  sacred  office, 


*  Froude,  xi.  230.  t  Idem,  vii.  477. 

t  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  203 ;  Hall,  p.  105.  As  I  shall  show  in 
a  subsequent  chapter,  this  condition  of  the  Church  was  largely  the 
result  of  excluding  from  the  pulpits  the  most  learned  and  diligent 
of  the  clergy  because  of  their  Puritanism.  They  were  doing  work 
in  other  quarters. 


PRIVATE    MORALS  353 

while  they  took  the  income,  we  need  not  wonder  at 
anything  which  is  related  of  them." 

Above  the  clergymen  stood  the  bishops,  and  many  of 
them  were  mere  time-serving  politicians,  anxious  only  to 
lay  up  a  fortune  for  themselves  and  their  families.  This 
is  not  remarkable  in  view  of  their  relations  to  the  new 
establishment.  When  Aylmer,  for  example,  preached 
before  Elizabeth  and  dared  to  denounce  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  court  in  the  matter  of  apparel,  his  mistress 
threatened,  if  he  repeated  the  offence,  to  send  him  at 
once  to  heaven,  but  without  his  head.f  After  such  a 
lesson  it  is  not  probable  that  many  persons  were  offend- 
ed by  hearing  criticism  of  their  vices  from  priest  or 
bishop.  Of  course  all  of  the  Established  clergy  Avere 
not  corrupt  or  sensual.  There  were  always  among  them 
men  distinguished  for  their  piety  and  virtue.  But  these, 
like  the  scholars,  were  so  few  in  number  as  hardl}^  to 
produce  an  impression  on  the  mass  of  the  community, 
without  the  aid  of  some  outside  influence  such  as  that 
which  had  developed  England  in  the  past. 

Considering  now  the  question  of  morality,  we  find 
the  picture  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  dark — becoming  darker, 
too,  in  some  of  its  features,  as  time  went  on — and  for  the 
causes  we  have  not  far  to  seek.  The  spoils  of  the  mon- 
asteries amounted,  perhaps,  to  one  fifth  of  the  kingdom's 
wealth.  All  this  colossal  plunder  had  been  suddenly 
thrown  over  to  a  horde  of  courtiers,  unrestrained  by  any 

*  Drake  speaks  of  the  tales  of  their  gross  debauchery,  to  say  notli- 
ing  of  the  charges  brought  against  them  of  perjury  and  man- 
slaughter. "  Shakespeare  and  his  Times,"  p.  44,  citing  Harrison  and 
the  Talbot  Papers. 

t  See  as  to  the  bishops,  Hallam's  "  Const.  Plist.,"  i.  226 ;  Hall,  p. 
105  ;  Froude,  xii.  21.  See  also  Chapter  IX.  for  a  fuller  discussion  of 
this  subject. 

I.— 23 


354        THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

religious  principle.  The  demoralization  soon  worked 
down  to  the  masses,  all  forms  of  industry  being  disorgan- 
ized, and  society  being  disturbed  to  its  very  foundations. 
At  the  same  time,  the  commerce  of  the  world  had  made 
great  strides,  so  that  the  ocean  carried  on  its  bosom 
incalculable  treasures.  Like  their  Saxon  and  Danish 
ancestors,  the  English,  in  the  main,  despised  the  men 
whose  labors  created  this  new  wealth,  but  they  took 
their  share  of  it  by  becoming,  what  those  ancestors  had 
been,  a  race  of  corsairs.  Secure  in  their  rock-bound 
island  fortress,  and  protected  by  the  wars  which  engrossed 
the  whole  attention  of  their  neighbors,  they  plundered 
friend  and  foe  alike,  and  heaped  up  cargoes  of  costly 
fabrics,  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones,  as  in  a  pirates' 
cave.*  Rioting  in  such  plunder  by  land  and  sea,  we 
need  not  marvel  at  the  modes  in  which  they  displayed 
their  gains,  nor  at  the  immorality  which  seemed  for  a 
time  to  taint  almost  every  class  in  the  community. 

Before  looking  at  the  evidence  of  this  immorality,  let 
us  see  what  intelligent  foreign  observers  of  three  centu- 
ries ago  thought  about  this  and  other  kindred  subjects. 
Says  Hentzner,  writing  in  1598  :  "  The  English  are  seri- 
ous, like  the  Germans,  lovers  of  show,  liking  to  be  fol- 
lowed wherever  they  go  by  troops  of  servants,  who  Avear 
their  master's  arms  in  silver,  fastened  to  their  left  sleeves, 
and  are  justly  ridiculed  for  wearing  tails  hanging  down 
their  back.  They  are  good  sailors,  and  better  pirates, 
cunning,  treacherous,  thievish."  f 

Meteren,  the  learned  Antwferp  historian,  who  lived 
many  years  in  London,  thus  describes  some  of  their  traits 
at  about  the  same  period :  "  As  a  people,  they  are  stout- 


*  In  the  next  chapter  I  shall  have  much  more  to  say  about  these 
corsairs.  t  Hentzner's  "  Travels." 


CnAKACTER   OF   ELIZABETH  355 

hearted,  vehement,  eager ;  cruel  in  war,  zealous  in  attack, 
little  fearing  death ;  not  revengeful,  but  fickle ;  presump- 
tuous, rash,  boastful,  deceitful ;  very  suspicious,  especially 
of  strangers,  whom  they  despise.  They  are  full  of  court- 
eous and  hypocritical  gestures  and  words,  which  they 
consider  to  imply  good  manners,  civility,  and  wisdom. 
The  people  are  not  so  laborious  as  the  French  and  Hol- 
landers, preferring  to  live  an  indolent  hfe,  like  the  Span- 
iards. The  most  difficult  and  ingenious  of  the  handicrafts 
are  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
lazy  inhabitants  of  Spain.  They  feed  many  sheep,  with 
fine  wool,  from  which,  two  hundred  years  ago,  they 
learned  to  make  cloth.  They  keep  many  idle  servants, 
and  many  wild  animals  for  their  pleasure,  instead  of  cul- 
tivating the  soil.  They  have  many  ships  but  do  not 
even  catch  fish  enough  for  their  own  consumption,  but 
purchase  of  their  neighbors.  When  they  go  away  from 
home,  riding  or  travelling,  they  always  wear  their  best 
clothes,  contrary  to  the  habit  of  other  nations."  * 

In  these  accounts  we  see  the  descendants  of  Benve- 
nuto  Cellini's  "  English  savages  "  of  the  century  before, 
picturesque,  full  of  interest,  but  as  yet  httle  touched  by 
civilization. 

Judging  from  what  they  saw  in  London  and  about 
the  court,  the  foreigners  were  right  who  thought  the 
English  very  deficient  in  moral  sense.  Consider,  first, 
the  character  of  the  woman  on  the  throne.  She  could 
not  tell  the  truth ;  in  fact,  her  lies  were  so  transparent 
that,  although  sometimes  perplexing,  they  deceived  no 
one.f     Of  good  faith  she  had  no  conception,  for  she  be- 


*  Emanuel  Van  Meteren,  "  History  of  the  Netherlands,"  quoted 
by  Motley,  "United  Netherlands,"  i.  307,  etc. 
t  Froude,  Green,  Creighton,  etc. 


356        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

trayed,  or  attempted  to  betray,  every  one  that  trusted 
her.  If  her  people  were  dishonest,  they  but  followed 
her  example.  She  was  a  partner  of  the  pirates  who, 
sailing  from  the  ports  of  England,  infested  every  sea ; 
and  even  her  partners  she  defrauded  when  it  came 
to  a  division  of  the  plunder.*  We  are  told  that  profan- 
ity was  then  so  common  among  the  masses  of  England 
that  if  they  spoke  but  three  or  four  words,  yet  an  oath 
or  two  would  be  mingled  with  them.f  In  this,  too,  the 
monarch,  and  that  monarch  a  woman,  set  them  the  ex- 
ample. 'Nor  were  her  expletives  mere  fanciful  and  pict- 
uresque ornaments  of  speech.  She  used  good  mouth- 
filling  oaths,  such  as  she  had  learned  from  her  father, 
Bluff  King  Hal.:]:  She  put  them  into  her  letters,  too, 
even  when  addressing  a  high  dignitary  of  the  Church. 
To  Cox  she  wrote :  "  Proud  prelate !  you  know  what 
you  were  before  I  made  you  what  you  are ;  if  you  do 
not  immediately  comply  with  my  request,  by  God  I  wiU 
unfrock  you !     Elizabeth."  § 

The  question  of  the  queen's  relations  with  her  lovers 
is  a  controverted  one,  into  which  we  need  not  enter,  f 
But  there  is  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  character  of 
the  men  and  women  by  whom  she  was  surrounded. 


*  Froude,  xi.  428.  t  Drake,  p.  423, 

f  Her  favorite  oath  was,  "By  God's  Son,"  whicli  she  used  as  "fre- 
quently as  a  fish-woman." — "  Nugge  Antiquee,"  i.  354. 

§  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  226. 

II  "  It  is  true  that  some,  not  prejudiced  against  Elizabeth,  have 
doubted  whether  '  Cupid's  fiery  dart '  was  as  efiiectually  '  quenched 
in  the  chaste  beams  of  the  watery  moon '  as  her  poet  intimates.  This 
I  must  leave  to  the  reader's  judgment.  She  certainly  went  strange 
lengths  of  indelicacy." — Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  155.  Froude,  who 
has  made  a  most  careful  examination  of  the  subject,  acquits  her,  how- 
ever, of  what  the  world  calls  dishonor.     Froude,  xii.  521. 


DECLINE   OF   MORALS    UNDER   ELIZABETH  357 

Faunt,  secretary  of  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  in  a  letter 
dated  August  1st,  1582,  says  of  Elizabeth's  court :  "  The 
only  discontent  I  have  is  to  live  where  there  is  so  little 
godliness  and  exercise  of  religion,  so  dissolute  manners 
and  corrupt  conversation  generally,  which  I  find  to  be 
worse  than  when  I  knew  the  place  first."  The  next 
year  he  writes  that  it  is  a  place  where  all  enormities  are 
practised,  where  sin  reigns  in  the  highest  degree.'^'  Sir 
John  Harrington,  in  his  private  diary  for  1594,  describes 
it  as  the  abode  not  of  love,  but  of  "  the  lustie  god  of  gal- 
lantry, Asmodeus."t  The  remarks  of  Faunt  have  some- 
times been  attributed  to  his  extreme  Puritanism ;  but 
Harrington,  a  courtier  and  Elizabeth's  godson,  was  no 
Puritan,  and  all  the  authorities  agree  as  to  the  decline 
of  private  morals  during  the  reign  of  the  "  Virgin  Queen." 

Mary,  surnamed  the  Bloody,  with  all  her  religious  in- 
tolerance, was  austere  in  her  morals,  and  her  court  was, 
in  that  respect,  a  model  for  the  world,:}:  Elizabeth,  for 
a  few  years,  followed  her  example,  the  early  Reformers 
by  whom  she  was  surrounded  being,  for  the  most  part, 
men  of  exemplary  private  lives.  But,  as  time  went  on, 
a  marked  change  for  the  worse  came  over  the  morals  of 
the  court  and  nation.  It  is  not  necessary  to  agree  with 
Hallam  in  attributing  this  moral  decadence  to  Puritan- 
ism, since  this  seems  to  have  been  an  effect,  and  not  a 
cause,  of  the  change ;  but  in  regard  to  the  fact  of  the  de- 
cadence ending  in  the  grossest  immorality,  which  in  the 
next  reign  surpassed  anything  ever  before  known  in 
English  history,  there  can  be  no  question. § 


*  Birch,  "Memoirs  of  tlie  Reign  of  Elizabeth,"  i.  25,  29. 
t  "  Nugse  Antiquse,"  i.  166.  I  Lingard,  vi.  195. 

§  "  We  may  easily  perceive,  in  the  literature  of  the  later  period  of 
the  queen,  what  our  biographical  knowledge  confirms,  that  much  of 


358       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

Such  was  the  state  of  morals  among  the  courtiers 
around  the  queen.  Possibly  the  reader  looks  for  some- 
thing better  among  the  gentry  and  the  common  people. 
But  here  the  story  is  little  different.  Every  one  knows 
the  tale  of  Wild  Will  Darrell — perhaps  apocryphal,  how- 
ever— how  he  murdered  his  new-born  babe  by  holding  it 
on  the  burning  coals  until  it  was  reduced  to  ashes,  and 
then  bought  immunity  from  punishment  by  an  enor- 
mous bribe.  Speaking  of  him.  Hall  says  :  "It  was,  in- 
deed, as  common  for  men  of  his  class  to  debauch  their 
neighbors'  wives  as  for  two  yeomen  to  draw  on  each 
other  at  a  country  fair,  or  for  a  craftsman  to  be  butch- 
ered by  his  fellow  at  Smithfield.  The  atonement  for 
blood  or  dishonor  done  was  trivial  if  it  were  not  ex- 
acted on  the  spot.  The  offender  could  be  reached 
best  through  his  purse;  he  bribed  the  law  and  es- 
caped, or,  at  the  worst,  he  was  disfranchised  for  a  year 
or  two."  '-^       

the  austerity  characteristic  of  her  earlier  years  had  vanished  away. 
The  course  of  time,  the  progress  of  vanity,  the  prevalent  dislike, 
above  all,  of  the  Puritans,  avowed  enemies  of  gayety,  concurred  to 
this  change.  .  .  .  The  most  distinguished  courtiers,  Raleigh,  Essex, 
Blount,  and  we  must  add  Sidney,  were  men  of  brilliant  virtues,  but 
not  without  license  of  morals ;  wliile  many  of  the  wits  and  poets, 
such  as  Nash,  Greene,  Peele,  Marlowe,  were  notoriously  of  very  dis- 
solute lives."  Hallam's  "Literature  of  Europe,"  ii.  193.  See  as  to 
Leicester's  matrimonial  experiences  "  Biographia  Britanuica,"  article 
"Robert  Dudley;"  "Diet,  of  National  Biography,"  article  "Christo- 
pher Blount ;"  "  The  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  by  Samuel 
Hopkins,  i.  273,  iii.  224.  As  to  his  step-daughter.  Sir  Philip  Sidney's 
"  Stella,"  and  her  relations  with  Sidney  and  her  later  lover, "  Diet,  of 
National  Biography,"  article  "  Charles  Blount,"  and  Hall's  "  Society 
in  the  Elizabetlian  Age,"  p.  92.  As  to  Raleigh,  Aiken's  "  Court  of 
Queen  Elizabeth;"  Strype's  "Annals,"  iv.  139.  For  a  summary  of 
the  general  condition  of  morals,  see  Hall,  p.  104,  etc. 
*  "  Society  in  the  Elizabethan  Age,"  p.  11. 


MAY-DAY   AND    ITS   EXCESSES  359 

It  has  been  the  fashion  among  people  who  dishke  the 
Puritans  to  make  hght  of  the  excesses  of  this  age,  and 
to  revile  the  men  who  did  away  with  the  lively  sports 
of  Merry  England.  One  of  these  was  the  May  Festival, 
which  seems  so  charming  in  the  mellowed  distance. 
The  night  before  the  1st  of  May,  the  whole  rural  popu- 
lation went  into  the  woods  together,  men,  women,  and 
children,  old  and  young,  and  passed  the  time  in  games 
and  sport.  On  the  morrow  they  returned  with  the  May- 
pole, borne  by  oxen  ornamented  with  ribbons  and  flowers, 
and  on  the  ground  strewn  with  green  boughs  they  feast- 
ed and  danced  till  evening.  But,  beautiful  as  is  this  pict- 
ure when  elaborated  by  the  poets,  the  Puritans  made  no 
more  of  a  mistake  about  May-day  than  about  the  bear- 
baiting,  which  they  also  abolished.  This  and  other  festi- 
vals were,  in  fact,  like  the  Saturnalia  of  pagan  Rome, 
sanctioning  by  custom  the  practice  of  the  grossest  de- 
bauchery.* Hentzner,  the  sober  German,  looked  on  all 
of  them  with  amazement.  "  On  Shrove  Tuesday,"  said 
he,  "  at  the  sound  of  a  bell  the  folk  become  insane,  thou- 
sands at  a  time,  and  forget  all  decency  and  common 
sense.  It  is  to  Satan  and  the  devil  that  they  pay 
homage,  and  do  sacrifice  in  these  abominable  pleas- 
ures." Does  one  wonder  that  earnest  men,  when  they 
began  to  look  at  life  seriously,  put  down  such  abomi- 
nations ? 

It  is  possible  that  the  people  of  the  rural  districts 
were  not  more  dissolute  than  their  fathers  and  grandfa- 
thers had  been.  Still,  the  breaking-down  of  all  religious 
restraints,  including  the  confessional,  must  have  weak-, 
ened  the  average  morality.    But  in  the  cities  and  among 


*  See   as  to  their  immorality,  Stubbe's  "Anatomic  of  Abuses" 
(1583),  p.  168,  etc.,  quoted  in  Taine's  "English  Literature." 


360         THE    PURITAN   IN  HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

the  wealthy  classes,  even  outside  the  court,  the  change 
for  the  worse  was  very  marked,  Ascham  attributed  it 
largely  to  the  influence  of  Italy,  and  he  was  doubtless 
correct  to  some  extent.  The  English  youth  went  there 
now,  not,  as  the  scholars  in  the  century  before  had  gone, 
to  study  Greek,  but  to  graduate  in  the  vices  which  an  ad- 
vancing civilization  was  carrying  to  perfection.  Around 
them  were  works  of  art  such  as  the  world  had  not  seen 
since  the  days  of  Phidias,  but  for  art  they  cared  as  little 
as  for  learning.  Their  natures  could,  with  a  few  illus- 
trious exceptions,  like  Sidney  and  Milton  at  a  much  later 
day,  take  in  only  the  grossest  forms  of  sensual  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  for  these,  with  their  newly  acquired  wealth, 
they  manifested  the  keenest  avidity.  The  Italian  prov- 
erb pithily  summed  up  the  situation,  '•  An  Italianated 
Englishman  is  an  incarnate  devil,"  * 

But  the  men  who  went  to  Italy  were  few  in  numbers, 
and  their  influence  was  limited.  A  greater  corrupter 
was  the  Italian  books,  now  for  the  first  time  translated 
into  English  and  sold  in  every  London  shop.  These,  we 
must  remember,  were  not  of  the  class  represented  by  the 
"  Divine  Comedy  "  of  Dante,  but  were  tales  of  which 
those  in  the  "  Decameron "  were  perhaps  the  least  ob- 
jectionable. Poor  Ascham,  in  writing  of  this  literature, 
seems  almost  to  lose  heart.  In  our  forefathers'  time,  he 
says,  few  books  were  read  in  English  but  certain  works 
of  chivalry,  in  which  the  chief  pleasure  lay  in  man- 


*  "  The  Scholemaster,"  p.  78.  Lord  Burgbley,  in  a  letter  to  his 
son,  said  :  "  And  suffer  not  thy  sons  to  pass  the  Alps ;  for  they  shall 
learn  nothing  there  but  pride,  blasphemy,  and  atheism.  And  if  by 
travel  they  get  a  few  broken  languages,  they  will  profit  them  not 
more  than  to  have  meat  served  in  divers  dishes." — Strype's  "An- 
nals" iv.  341. 


COERUPTING   INFLUENCES    OP   ITALIAN    LITERATURE  361 

slaughter  and  the  violation  of  the  seventh  command- 
ment. They  were  bad  enough,  and  yet  ten  such  works 
did  not  one  tenth  of  the  mischief  wrought  by  one  of 
these  poems  or  tales  made  in  Italy  and  translated  in 
England,  l^either  the  lay  nor  the  clerical  authorities 
would  do  anything  to  arrest  this  curse,  but  he,  the 
simple  schoolmaster,  could  not  sit  still  and  hold  his 
peace."'^ 

Fortunately,  there  were  some  earnest  men  in  England 
who  sympathized  with  Ascham.  They  were  as  yet  few 
in  number,  and  never  made  up  anything  like  a  majority 
of  the  population ;  but  in  the  next  century,  through  dis- 
cipline and  courage,  they  will  capture  the  government, 
and  for  a  time  corrupting  sports  and  books  will  go. 
Then  will  come  the  Eestoration  and  the  consequent  re- 
action ;  the  English  upper  classes  w^ill  be  brought  into 
contact  with  the  French,  and  will  absorb  from  them,  as 
from  the  Italians  a  century  before,  little  but  their  vices. 
These  vices,  engrafted  on  uncultivated  natures,  will  make 
the  court  of  Charles  II.  such  a  scene  of  open  immoral- 
ity as  the  modern  world  has  rarely  known.  Then,  slow- 
ly, the  seeds  sown  by  the  Puritans  will  begin  to  bear 
fruit,  until  we  have  the  England  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, with  all  its  virtues,  real  and  imputed. 

Fortunately  for  America,  republican  Holland  was  a 
country  of  good  morals,  where,  according  to  Guicciar- 
dini,  the  marriage  vow  was  held  in  honor.  Her  people 
gave  a  tone  to  the  middle  colonies  of  America.  The 
others  were  settled  by  Englishmen  from  the  middle 
classes,  who  left  their  homes  when  Puritanism  was  in 
the  ascendant,  and  happily  they  brought  with  them 
strict  notions  about  the  relation  of  the  sexes.     Some  of 


"  The  Scholemaster,"  pp.  79,  80,  etc. 


362       THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

these  men  have  been  ridiculed  for  their  austerity,  but 
they  and  their  brothers  whom  they  left  behind  them 
cannot  be  understood  unless  we  realize  the  condition  of 
society  against  which  they  protested,  not  only  by  their 
words  but  by  their  lives. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ELIZABETHAN     ENGLAND 

PUBLIC    LIFE— ADMINISTEATION    OF    JUSTICE— TEADE— TREAT- 
MENT  OF   lEELAND— PIKACY 

The  last  chapter  dealt  with  Elizabethan  England 
mainly  from  its  domestic  and  social  side.  Let  us  now 
see  how  the  men  of  this  time  look  from  another  point 
of  view.     And  first  we  will  consider  those  in  public  life. 

A  few  figures  stand  out  in  the  Elizabethan  era  which 
would  do  honor  to  any  age  ;  chief  among  these  are 
Burghley  and  Walsingham.  It  is  fortunate  for  Eng- 
land and  for  the  world  that  these  men  lived ;  it  is 
largely  to  them  that  England  owes  her  greatness.  They 
were  patriots,  pure  of  life,  incorruptible,  w^orking  for 
their  country,  and  not  for  self.  Burghley  was  wealthy, 
but  in  his  own  right ;  from  the  queen  he  did  not  receive 
enough,  he  said,  to  cover  his  expenses.*  "VValsingham 
spent  his  fortune  in  the  public  service  and  died  in  pov- 
erty. These  are  the  men  who,  with  a  very  few  others, 
such  as  Sir  Francis  KnoUys,  Sir  ISTicholas  Bacon,  and  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  are  often  held  up  to  illustrate  the  public 
morality  of  the  age ;  but  they  neither  represent  the  offi- 
cials nor  the  courtiers.  Most  of  the  men  about  them 
were  mere  parasites  fattening  on  the  nation — gamblers, 
spendthrifts,  pardon-brokers,  monopolists,  and  pirates. 


*  Strype's  "  Annals,"  iii.  Appendix,  p.  128. 


364       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

For  public  services,  however  splendid  or  long  contin- 
ued, Elizabeth  had  scarcely  a  word  of  thanks.  It  must 
have  been  that,  believing  herself  more  than  mortal,  there 
was  no  room  in  her  composition  for  such  an  earthly  trait 
as  gratitude.  She  allowed  her  ministers  to  go  without 
reward,  and  her  soldiers  in  the  field  to  starve  for  want 
of  food,  apparently  because  she  thought  it  their  duty 
not  only  to  serve  her  with  their  lives,  but  at  their  own 
expense.  It  speaks  well  for  human  nature  and  for  the 
English  character  that  she  found  so  many  willing  to 
serve  her,  as  the  representative  of  their  country,  on  these 
terms.  Such  men,  however,  were  in  a  small  minority, 
and  with  a  few  notable  exceptions  were  not  found  about 
the  court.  Those  who  daily  saw  the  queen  discovered 
two  modes  of  gaining  the  rewards  denied  to  patriotic 
service  or  devotion  to  her  interests.  One  was  to  satisfy 
her  greed  by  presents  of  gold  or  jewels,  no  matter  how 
acquired ;  the  other  was  to  feed  her  hunger  for  adula- 
tion, which  was  insatiable  as  the  grave. 

Historians,  to  excuse  her  conduct  towards  her  minis- 
ters, soldiers,  and  aU  the  true  friends  with  whom  she  had 
financial  dealings,  say  that  her  avarice  amounted  to  a 
monomania.  But  her  life  was  not  controlled  by  avarice. 
The  miser  who  heaps  up  treasures  from  mere  love  of 
acquisition  denies  himself  as  well  as  others ;  the  selfish 
spendthrift  it  is  who  defrauds  his  creditors  and  robs  his 
friends  in  order  to  have  means  for  self-indulgence  or 
display.  To  the  parasites  about  her  court,  Elizabeth 
could  be  lavishness  itself.  Leicester,  who  began  life 
with  nothing,  became  the  wealthiest  nobleman  in  Eng- 
land. Burghley  estimated  that  Elizabeth  gave  Essex,  her 
last  favorite,  three  hundred  thousand  pounds,*  and  this 


*  Hume,  iii.  258. 


COllUUPTION    IN   STATE   AND    CHURCH  365 

was  at  a  time  when  the  country  was  at  war  with  Spain, 
and  the  drains  upon  the  public  purse  the  most  severe. 
Hatton,  her  "sheep,"  who  danced  himself  into  favor, 
was  rewarded  with  broad  acres  of  land  and  profita- 
ble sinecures,  and  was  finally  made  Lord  Chancellor, 
Others  received  grants  of  monopolies,  which  extended 
to  so  many  articles  and  forms  of  industry  as  to  be- 
come a  grievous  burden  to  the  State,  without  benefit  to 
the  royal  treasury.* 

But  the  monopolies  were  not  the  worst  of  the  abuses 
caused  by  the  conduct  of  the  queen.  Men  who  could  not 
get  pay  for  honest  service  took  pensions  from  France 
and  Spain,  both  natural  enemies  of  England.  Officials, 
when  out  of  the  queen's  sight,  robbed  the  government, 
as  they  always  will  where  the  government  shows  no 
honesty  in  its  own  dealings.f  Even  the  Church  be- 
came infected.  Many  of  the  bishops  plundered  their 
dioceses,  sold  the  lead  and  brick  from  the  buildings, 
cut  down  the  timber,  and  made  grants  of  church  prop- 
erty to  the  crown,  either  for  a  bribe  in  money  or  for  a 
portion  of  the  spoils.  In  addition,  they  almost  openly 
sold  the  livdngs  in  their  gift,  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield 
making  seventy  "  lewd  and  unlearned  ministers  for 
money  "  in  one  day.:|:    , 


*  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist."  i.  260. 

t  See  Hall,  p.  68,  etc.,  for  an  account  of  the  mode  in  -whicli  Sir 
Thomas  Gresbam,  the  qneen's  financial  agent,  until  recent  times  re- 
garded as  a  model  of  official  integrity,  acquired  his  large  fortune; 
and  p.  122,  etc.,  for  the  exploits  of  Sir  George  Carey,  the  Treasurer 
at  War  in  Ireland.  These  men  were  shining  lights  in  their  age,  far 
removed  from  the  horde  of  petty  plunderers. 

I  Froude,  xii.  22;  xi.  21 ;  vii.  476.  Further  authorities  for  these 
statements  regarding  the  condition  of  the  Church  will  be  given  in 
Chapter  IX. 


366        THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

The  law  courts  were  little  better.  la  1592,  Elizabeth 
appointed  to  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  England  a 
lawyer,  John  Popham,  who  is  said  to  have  occasionally 
been  a  highwayman  until  the  age  of  thirty,"-  At  first 
blush  this  seems  incredible,  but  only  because  such  false 
notions  generally  prevail  regarding  the  character  of  the 
time.  The  fact  is  that  neither  piracy  nor  robbery  was 
considered  particularly  discreditable  at  the  court  of  Ehz- 
abeth.  The  queen  knighted  Francis  Drake  for  his  ex- 
ploits as  a  pirate,  and  a  law  on  the  statute-books,  passed 
in  the  middle  of  the  century,  gave  the  benefit  of  clergy 
to  peers  of  the  realm  when  convicted  of  highway  rob- 
bery. Men  may  doubt,  if  they  choose,  the  stories  about 
Popham,  but  the  testimony  of  this  statute  cannot  be  dis- 
puted.f 

The  elevation  of  a  reputed  highwayman  to  preside 
over  the  highest  criminal  court  in  the  kingdom  did  not, 
however,  mean  that  the  laws  were  not  to  be  enforced 
with  rigor.  In  fact,  Popham  received  the  name  of  the 
"  hanging  judge,"  and  well  deserved  the  title.     All  the 


*  See  "  Life  of  Popham,"  Campbell's  "  Lives  of  the  Chief  Jus- 
tices." Hall,  it  should  be  said,  discredits  this  story  as  romantic 
gossip,  p.  148. 

t  1  Ed.  VL  cap.  12,  sec.  14  (1547).  Shakespeare's  contempora- 
ries saw  nothing  remarkable  in  the  fact  that  Sir  John  Falstaif,  a 
knight,  was  represented  as  a  highway  robber,  and  that  a  prince  was 
his  associate.  Popham  is  said  to  have  left  the  largest  fortune  ever 
accumulated  by  a  lawyer.  Among  his  other  possessions  was  Little- 
cote  House,  which  he  acquired  in  some  strange  way  from  Wild  Will 
Darrell.  Upon  his  death,  he  was  succeeded  by  a  son  who  kept  one 
of  the  grandest  establishments  in  England.  When  at  home  his  house 
was  full  of  guests,  and  when  abroad,  his  wife  gathered  in  the  women 
of  the  surrounding  countiy,  and  they  all  got  drunk  together.  Camp- 
bell's "  Life  of  Popham."  Both  died  from  the  effects  of  their  de- 
bauchery, after  squandering  the  ill-gotten  wealth  of  the  Chief  Justice. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF   JUSTICE  367 

judicial  proceedings  of  tlie  time  are  marked  by  tlie  mixt- 
ure of  ferocity  and  corruption  which  characterizes  a 
semi-barbarous  condition  of  society.  In  prosecutions  by 
the  State,  every  barrier  which  the  law  has  ever  attempt- 
ed to  erect  for  the  protection  of  innocence  was  ruthless- 
ly cast  down.  Men  were  arrested  without  the  order  of 
a  magistrate,  on  the  mere  warrant  of  a  secretary  of  state 
or  privy  councillor,  and  thrown  into  prison  during  the 
pleasure  of  the  minister.  In  confinement  they  were  sub- 
jected to  torture,  for  the  rack  rarely  stood  idle  while 
Elizabeth  was  on  the  throne.  If  brought  to  trial,  they 
were  denied  the  aid  of  counsel  and  the  evidence  of  wit- 
nesses in  their  behalf.  JSTor  were  they  confronted  with 
the  witnesses  against  them,  but  written  depositions,  taken 
out  of  court  and  in  the  absence  of  the  prisoner,  were  read 
to  the  jury,  or  rather  such  portions  of  them  as  the  prose- 
cution considered  advantageous  to  its  side.  On  the  bench 
sat  a  judge  holding  ofiice  at  the  pleasure  of  the  crown, 
and  in  the  jury-box  twelve  men,  picked  out  by  the  sher- 
iff, who  themselves  were  punished  if  they  gave  a  verdict 
of  acquittal."" 

Well  does  Hallam  compare  the  English  courts  of  jus- 
tice, in  cases  of  treason,  to  the  "  caverns  of  murderers." 
Hentzner  counted  on  London  Bridge  the  heads  of  over 
thirty  persons  who  had  been  executed  for  high  treason, 
and  he  was  there  in  a  very  quiet  time.  Concerning  the 
Tower  he  has  this  significant  remark :  "  N.B.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  when  any  of  the  nobility  are  sent  hither 
on  the  charge  of  high  crimes  punishable  with  death,  such 
as  treason,  etc.,  they  seldom  or  never  repover  their  lib- 


*  "The  Trial  of  the  Eaii  of  Somerset,"  by  Amos;  Jardine's 
"Life  of  Coke;"  Hallam's  "Const.  Hist.,"  i.  233,  234,  etc.;  Wade, 
i.  141. 


368       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

erty."  *  It  was  like  the  cave  of  the  lion  in  the  fable : 
all  the  footsteps  pointed  in  one  direction. 
IV  But  it  was  not  alone  in  prosecutions  by  the  State  tliat 
liberty  was  trampled  under  foot.  Private  individuals, 
for  suing  a  wealthy  nobleman  or  court  favorite,  were 
arrested  by  a  secret  warrant  and  cast  into  some  un- 
known dungeon  beyond  the  reach  of  legal  process. 
Even  lawj^ers  and  oflQcers  of  the  courts  were  thus  im- 
prisoned for  the  simple  discharge  of  their  duty  to  the 
public.  These  outrages,  equalling  anything  popularly 
supposed  to  have  been  perpetrated  in  France  during  the 
worst  days  of  the  Bastile,  finally  aroused  even  the  men 
upon  the  bench  to  an  exhibition  of  some  spirit.  In 
1592,  eleven  of  the  highest  judges  united  in  a  petition 
to  Lord  Burghley  and  the  chancellor,  setting  forth 
these  facts,  and  asking  that  this  particular  grievance 
might  be  redressed,  although  they  admitted  that  the 
queen  or  privy  council  might  imprison  any  one  at 
pleasure,  and  that  the  courts  could  not  interfere.  Ac- 
cording to  Hallam,f  it  seems  probable  that  this  petition 
was  presented  twice,  first  in  1591  and  again  in  1592. 
It  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  suggestive  documents  of 
the  time,  being  the  certificate  of  all  the  judges  of  the 
higher  courts  to  the  mode  in  which  personal  liberty 
was  utterly  crushed  out  by  the  powerful  and  corrupt 
men  about  the  throne,  more  than  thirty  years  after  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth.  Had  some  foreigner  made  the 
statements  contained  in  this  paper,  their  truth  might 
well  be  questioned ;  but,  like  the  act  of  Parliament  re- 
lating to  the  peers  of  the  realm  to  which  I  have  just  al- 
luded, its  authority  is  too  high  to  be  called  in  question. :|; 


*  Hentzner's  "  Travels,"  1598.  t  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  236. 

X  See  this  petition  as  it  appears  in  Anderson's  "Keports,"i.  297, 


PAKDON-BEOKEES  369 

Somewhat  akin  to  the  imprisonment  of  men  without 
a  cause  was  the  pardoning  of  criminals,  which  grew 
into  a  regular  business  around  the  court.  Will  Darrell, 
when  in  jail  for  murder,  obtained  his  release  by  a  bribe 
of  a  sum  equal  to  at  least  three  thousand  pounds  of 
modern  money,  paid  to  Pembroke,  the  immortal  Sid- 
ney's brother-in-law.*  An  address  to  the  queen  upon 
the  dangers  of  the  country,  presented  by  the  council  in 
1579,  refers  to  this  practice  in  language  which  is  deeply 
significant,  as  showing  that  the  evils  complained  of  did 
not  lie  at  their  doors.  "  Further,  the  loose,  disordered 
administration  required  to  be  amended,  and  godly  and 
learned  men  appointed  as  magistrates  to  do  justice 
without  partiality.  The  present  practice  of  pardoning 
notable  crimes,  of  pardoning  piracy  especially,  ought  to 
cease,  and  penal  laws  not  to  be  dispensed  with  for  pri- 
vate men's  profit,  a  matter  greatly  misliked  of  good 
peoj)le."  f  The  pardon-brokers  and  the  men  who  ap- 
pointed corrupt  judges  were  evidently  outside  the 
council  and  directly  around  the  queen.  In  1585,  the 
Recorder  of  London  w^rote  to  Burghley :  "  My  Lord, 
there  is  a  saying,  when  the  court  is  farthest  from  Lon- 
don, then  there  is  the  best  justice  done  in  England.  I  once 
heard  a  great  personage  in  office,  yet  living,  say  the 
same  words.  It  is  grown  for  a  trade  now  in  the  court 
to  make  means  for  reprieves.  Twenty  pounds  for  a 
reprieve  is  nothing,  though  it  be  but  for  ten  days." :{: 
A  single  illustration  will  show  how  this  business  was 


and  also  iu  another  form  in  Hallam,  i.  235.  Anderson  states  that 
after  its  presentation  there  was  a  marlved  improvement. 

*  Hall,  p.  13.  t  Froude,  xi.  177. 

X  Froude,  xii,  20.  See  also  Abbott's  "Bacon,"  p.  4,  for  an  account 
of  how  the  ladies  about  the  court  dealt  in  pardons,  making  of  it  a 
I.— 24 


370        THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

conducted,  and  who  were  the  parties  that  benefited  by 
it.  In  1595,  a  certain  Robert  Boothe,  having  been  sen- 
tenced by  the  Court  of  Chancery  for  some  criminal  prac- 
tice, his  friend  Anthony  Bacon,  brother  of  Sir  Francis, 
employed  Sir  Anthony  Standen  to  negotiate  his  release. 
Standen  applied  to  Lady  Edmundes,  one  of  the  queen's 
attendants,  the  Lord  Keeper  Puckering  having  expressed 
a  desire  that  the  matter  should  be  brought  "to  her  mill," 
and  having  said  to  her,  "  Do  your  endeavor  and  you 
shall  find  me  ready."  In  writing  to  Bacon  concerning 
his  negotiations,  Standen  reported  that  he  had  offered 
the  noble  dame  a  hundred  pounds  for  her  interest  with 
the  queen,  which  she  treated  as  too  small  a  sum.  He 
adds,  "This  ruffianry  of  causes  I  am  daily  more  and 
more  acquainted  with,  and  see  the  manner  of  dealing ; 
which  groweth  by  the  queen's  straitness  to  give  these 
women,  whereby  they  presume  thus  to  grange  and  huck 
causes."  * 

The  men  who  dealt  in  pardons  and  reprieves  had  a 
broad  field  of  operations.  The  wide-spread  demoraliza- 
tion of  society  is  shown,  if  further  proof  were  needed, 
by  the  prevalence  of  the  crimes  against  person  and 
property,  which  every  government  must  punish  if  it 
would  live  at  all.  In  London,  highwaymen  plied  their 
vocation  in  open  streets  by  daylight.f  In  the  country 
were  regular  bands  of  robbers,  who  either  settled  down 
in  some  locality,  whence  they  carried  on  their  raids,  or 
wandered  about  from  place  to  place,  levying  contribu- 


regular  business,  and  thus  obtaining  tlie  income  which  the  queen 
withheld. 

*  Birch,  "  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,"  i.  354,  cit- 
ing original  letter  in  Lambeth  Library. 
■   t  Froude,  vii.  471. 


PREVALENCE    OF    CRIME  371 

tions  on  the  farmers.*  In  Somersetshire  alone,  forty 
prisoners  were  executed  in  one  year  (1596)  for  robbery 
and  other  felonies,  and  this  record  was  not  the  highest. 
It  was  estimated  that  in  every  county  of  the  kingdom 
there  were  at  least  three  or  four  hundred  vagabonds 
who  lived  by  theft  and  rapine.  They  often  intimidated 
the  magistrates,  and  substantially  ruled  in  some  sec- 
tions.f 

A  commission  issued  by  Elizabeth  in  1595  is  sugges- 
tive of  the  dimensions  of  this  evil  in  London,  while  it 
illustrates  the  utter  disregard  of  personal  liberty  shown 
by  her  government  shortly  before  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury. Under  this  commission,  Sir  Thomas  Wilford  was 
directed,  on  notice  by  the  magistrates,  to  arrest  "such 
notable  rebellious  and  incorrigible  offenders "  as  he 
should  find  in  the  streets  of  London  or  in  the  suburbs, 
and  forthwith  execute  them  openly  on  the  gallows.:]: 
No  trial,  no  examination,  simply  a  short  rope  and  a 
shorter  shrift.  It  may  be  added  that  this  despotic 
measure,  under  which  five  men  were  hanged,  had  no  po- 
litical tumults  for  an  excuse,  but  was  provoked  merely 
by  a  few  disorders  committed  by  some  riotous  appren- 
tices and  vagrants.  || 

*  Blackraore,  in  his  exquisite  historical  romance,  "  Lorna  Doone," 
gives  an  admirable  description  ot  one  of  these  robber  retreats  of  the 
next  century.  Macaulay  describes  the  high  position  held  by  high- 
waymen in  England  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  seventeentli  century. 
"  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.  chap.  iii. 

t  Strype's  "  Annals,"  iv.  290.        |  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  243. 

11  In  1597,  a  number  of  peasants  in  Oxfordshire  assembled  to 
break  down  recent  enclosures  and  restore  the  land  to  its  former 
tillage.  As  this  action  opposed  the  execution  of  the  laws,  it  was 
pronounced  high  treason  by  the  court,  and  the  rioters  suflFered  the 
barbarous  death  of  traitors.  Howell's  "  State  Trials,"  1431 ;  Lin- 
gard,  viii.  398. 


373         THE   PUUITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

There  is  nothing  strange  about  the  prevalence  of 
crimes  against  property  on  land,  when  we  consider  the 
extent  to  which  piracy  existed  upon  the  ocean,  and  the 
mode  in  which  it  was  fostered  and  encouraged  by  the 
queen.  But  before  discussing  this  extensive  subject, 
let  us  finish  with  the  landsmen  by  showing  how  the 
general  demoralization  of  society  affected  some  por- 
tions of  the  manufacturing  and  trading  classes,  and 
how  the  Englishmen  of  that  day  dealt  with  their  Irish 
neighbors. 

For  many  yesirs  a  coarse  kind  of  woollen  goods  had 
been  made  in  England,  which  found  a  wide  market  on 
the  Continent.  Her  people  could  not  yet  dye  their 
cloths,  nor  finish  the  finer  varieties.  These  pursuits 
they  began  to  follow  only  in  the  next  century,  when 
taught  by  the  ISTetherland  refugees.*  For  the  rude  un- 
dressed fabric,  however,  they  had  a  good  reputation  un- 
til the  time  of  the  Reformation.  Then,  as  the  business 
increased,  adulteration  and  fraud  appeared  to  run  ram- 
pant, culminating  in  the  jesiYS  just  preceding  the  Span- 
ish Armada,  when  "  more  false  cloth  and  Avoollen  was 
made  in  England  than  in  all  Europe  besides."  f  It  was 
a  time  when  all  classes,  infected  by  the  example  of  the 
men  about  the  court,  who  openly  paraded  their  ill- 
gotten  gains,  were  crazed  with  the  desire  for  speedy 
wealth. 

"With  adulterations  in  their  manufactured  products 
and  frauds  in  their  commercial  dealings,  there  was  also 
developed  a  mania  for  gambling,  such  as  usually  accom- 
panies a  feverish  condition  of  society.     Both  sexes  gam- 


*  Motley's  "  United  Netlierlands,"  iv.  433. 

t  Froude,  v.    359 ;    MSS.  Domestic,  Dec,   1585,   cited   Froude, 
xii.  565. 


GAMBLING-ITS    CURIOUS    FORMS  373 

bled,  and  they  did  it  in  curious  ways  which  show  the 
wide  dissemination  of  the  practice.  Thus,  in  the  accounts 
of  shop-keepers  of  the  time,  we  find  frequent  records 
of  articles  sold  to  be  paid  for  at  an  enormous  advance, 
when  the  purchaser  returned  from  a  distant  voyage,  was 
married,  had  a  child,  or  the  like.*  This,  of  course,  was 
only  a  cover  for  a  bet.  With  other  tradesmen  the  trans- 
actions were  more  open,  the  customer  paying  down  di- 
rectly a  sum  of  money,  which  he  was  to  receive  back 
several-fold  on  the  happening  of  some  contingency.f 
This  was  but  one  form  of  a  vice  which  became  almost 
universal.  As  in  the  present  day,  dice  and  cards  were 
the  instruments  most  commonly  used  by  the  habitual 
gamesters,  and  there  were  in  London  more  gambling 
houses  "  to  honor  the  devil  than  churches  to  serve  the 
living  God." :}: 

The  most  extensive  form  of  gambling  was  that  car- 
ried on  in  connection  with  the  operations  of  the  pirates 
and  privateers.  The  ships  of  these  worthies  were  usual- 
ly fitted  out  by  gentlemen  "  adventurers,"  as  they  Avere 
called,  who  sometimes  lost  their  all,  but  at  other  times 


*  Hall's  "  Society  in  the  Elizabethan  Age,"  p.  52,  etc. 

t  Ben  Jonson,  in  "  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour,"  refers  to  this 
mode  of  speculation,  which  originated  among  the  nobility,  but  soon 
extended  to  the  lower  ranks.  Says  Puntarvolo,  "  I  do  intend  this 
year  of  jubilee  coming  on  to  travel ;  and  because  I  will  not  alto- 
gether go  upon  expense,  I  am  determined  to  put  forth  some  five 
thousand  pounds,  to  be  paid  me  five  for  one  upon  the  return  of  my- 
self, my  wife,  and  my  dog  from  the  Turk's  court  in  Constantinople. 
If  all  or  either  of  us  miscarry  in  the  journey,  'tis  gone ;  if  we  be  suc- 
cessful, why,  there  will  be  five  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  to  enter- 
tain time  withal." — Act  ii.  sc.  3. 

I  George  Whetstone,  1586,  quoted  in  Nathan  Drake's  "  Shake- 
speare and  his  Times,"  p.  431. 


374        THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

received  enormous  returns  on  their  investments.*  Men 
for  these  purposes  borrowed  money,  and  a  class  of  usu- 
rers sprang  up,  who  formed  one  of  the  great  curses  of  the 
age.  Taking  interest  beyond  ten  per  cent,  was  forbid- 
den by  statute,  but  means  were  found  to  evade  the  law. 
Twenty-five  per  cent,  was  a  common  rate,t  and  frequent- 
ly even  this  was  much  exceeded.  The  Dean  of  York,  one 
of  the  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  was  a  noted  usu- 
rer. We  find  him  and  his  associates,  in  1585,  taking  fifty, 
sixty,  and  sometimes  a  hundred  per  cent,  interest  on 
loans.:}:  In  connection  with  the  subject  of  gambling  and 
usury,  and  as  a  further  symptom  of  the  state  of  society 
in  its  changing  conditions,  it  may  be  added  that,  in  1569, 
lotteries,  long  known  upon  the  Continent,  were  first  in- 
troduced into  England,  the  drawings  taking  place  at  the 
west  door  of  St.  Paul's. 

"When  now  we  add  to  this  picture  the  love  of  strong 
drink,  in  which  no  one,  except  perhaps  the  ISTetherlanders,. 
could  rival  the  Englishman,!  we  can  form  a  pretty  cor- 
rect idea  of  the  dark  side  of  society  in  England  during 
the  Elizabethan  age.  Of  its  brighter  side  Ave  shall  see 
something  when  in  subsequent  chapters  we  come  to  con- 


*  In  one  expedition,  planned  by  Kaleigh,  in  1592,  the  adventurers 
received  ten  for  one,  a  thousand  per  cent.  Strype's  "  Annals,"  iv. 
129.  t  Hall,  pp.  47,  56. 

I  Strype,  iii.  325.  Until  1571,  all  interest  was  forbidden  both  by 
Church  and  State ;  then  Elizabeth,  through  Parliament,  fixed  the 
legal  rate  at  ten  per  cent.  She  also  introduced  judicious  regulations 
concerning  weights  and  measures,  and  gave  the  country  an  honest 
metallic  currency,  which  had  been  unknown  under  her  jiredeces- 
sors,  who  debased  it  by  mixing  other  metals  with  the  gold  and 
silver. 

§  Drake,  p.  408.  See  also  Hall,  p.  76,  etc.,  as  to  the  change  from 
the  light  drinks  of  earlier  times  to  loaded  wine  and  heady  ale. 


THE   ENGLISH   IN   IRELAND  375 

sider  the  marvellous  literature  of  this  period,  its  energy 
displayed  in  every  quarter,  and  the  reforms,  civil  and  re- 
ligious, advocated  by  the  Puritans. 

Let  us  now,  after  looking  at  the  Englishman  at  home, 
see  something  of  his  character  as  it  was  exhibited  in  Ire- 
land three  centuries  ago;  and  here,  for  our  purpose, 
the  recital  of  a  few  historical  incidents  will  be  sufficient. 
They  will  supplement  what  we  have  already  seen  of  his 
mo]'al  condition,  and  throw  some  light  on  the  opinion 
formed  of  him  by  foreigners. 

English  historians  throw  up  their  hands  in  natural 
horror  at  the  atrocious  plots  of  the  fanatical  Catholics 
for  the  assassination  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Crimes  of  vio- 
lence, they  say,  are  common  enough  among  our  people ; 
but  for  secret  murder,  especially  by  poison,  our  nation 
has  always  had  a  peculiar  detestation.  All  this  is  true 
enough  in  general,  but,  in  the  light  of  some  notable 
events  in  Ireland,  to  say  nothing  of  what  went  on  in' 
England  itself,  one  may  well  ask  whether  such  state- 
ments are  not  a  little  overdrawn  when  applied  to  the 
Elizabethan  age.  As  for  the  comparison  between  the 
Catholics  in  England  and  the  Protestant  English  in 
Ireland,  we  must  remember  that  the  former  had  a  re- 
ligious motive.  "When,  in  1584,  the  attempts  were  be- 
gun against  the  queen,  she  had  been  excommunicated 
by  the  pope,  she  had  already  put  a  number  of  Catho- 
lics to  death,  and  the  men  who  plotted  her  destruc- 
tion believed  that  they  were  doing  the  work  of  God 
in  removing  a  wicked  woman,  who  was  an  outlaw  per- 
secuting the  saints  and  aiding  the  spread  of  perni- 
cious doctrines.  In  Ireland  were  a  people  fighting  for 
their  homes  against  a  foreign  invader.  'No  question  of 
religion  was  involved,  in  the  early  days  of  which  I  am 
about  to  speak ;  but  the  English  were  simply  striving  to 


376        TUE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

hold  by  the  strong  arm  what  they  had  won  by  force. 
Upon  this  point  Lord  Burghley^  the  queen's  chief  minis- 
ter, said,  in  1582,  "that  the  people  of  the  Netherlands 
had  not  such  cause  to  rebel  against  the  oppression  of 
the  Spaniards  as  the  Irish  against  the  tyranny  of  Eng- 
land." * 

Under  these  conditions,  in  1561,  nineteen  years  before 
the  Jesuits  began  even  their  religious  teachings  in  Eng- 
land, and  nine  years  before  the  excommunication  of 
Elizabeth,  Shan  O'Neil  led  one  of  the  periodical  rebel- 
lions so  common  in  the  Emerald  Isle.  He  was  a  brave 
soldier  and  a  skilful  general.  In  a  fair  fight  he  defeat- 
ed an  army  led  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  the  flower  of  Eng- 
lish chivalry,  one  of  Elizabeth's  trusted  councillors,  and 
her  deputy  in  Ireland.  Shortly  thereafter,  Shan  sent 
two  of  his  followers  to  Sussex  with  a  message  concern- 
ing some  military  details.  What  followed  is  best  told 
in  the  words  of  the  noble  English  lord  who  thus  re- 
ported to  his  queen : 

'' August  24:th,15Ql. 
"May  it  please  your  Higliness: 

"  After  conference  had  with  Shan  O'Neil's  seneschal,  I  entered  talk 
with  Neil  Gray;  and  perceiving  by  him  that  he  had  little  hope  of 
Shan's  conformity  in  anything,  and  that  he  therefore  desired  that  he 
might  be  received  to  serve  your  Highness,  for  that  he  would  no 
longer  abide  with  him,  and  that  if  I  would  promise  to  receive  him 
to  your  service  he  would  do  anything  that  I  would  command  him,  I 
swore  him  upon  the  Bible  to  keep  secret  that  I  should  say  unto  him, 
and  assured  him  if  it  were  ever  known  during  the  time  I  had  the 
government  there  that,  besides  the  breach  of  his  oath,  it  should  cost 
him  his  life.  I  used  long  circumstance  in  persuading  him  to  serve 
you,  to  benefit  his  country,  and  to  procure  assistance  of  living  to  him 
and  his  forever  by  doing  of  that  which  he  might  easily  do.  He  prom- 
ised to  do  what  I  would.  In  fine,  I  brake  with  him  to  kill  Shan,  and 


*  Froude,  xi.  273. 


ATTEMPTS   OF    SUSSEX    TO    MURDER   SHAN    O'NEIL  377 

bound  myself  by  my  oath  to  see  him  have  a  hundred  marks  of  land 
by  the  year  to  him  and  to  his  heirs  for  his  reward.  *  *  *  God  send 
your  Highness  a  good  end. 

"Your  Highuess's  most  humble  and  faithful  servant, 

"  T.  Sussex." 

Froude,  who  first  gave  this  letter  to  the  public,  mild- 
ly remarks  that  "  English  honor,  like  English  coin,  lost 
something  of  its  purity  in  the  sister  island."*  But  this 
is  not  a  transaction  to  be  lightly  dismissed.  Here  is  the 
representative  of  the  queen,  himself  one  of  the  brightest 
ornaments  of  the  English  peerage,  laboring  with  a  trust- 
ed servant,  and  finally  hiring  him  to  assassinate  his  mas- 
ter, because  that  master  is  too  strong  an  enemy  in  the 
open  field,  and  then  reporting  the  bargain  to  his  royal 
mistress,  like  any  other  piece  of  business.  The  letter 
needs  no  comment,  but  deserves  consideration. 

ISTo  record  remains,  or  at  least  has  yet  been  found,  of 
the  answer  made  by  Elizabeth  to  the  report  of  her  noble 
deputy.  But  Sussex  retained  his  command,  and,  as  was 
shown  by  subsequent  events,  could  not  have  been  dis- 
couraged by  any  communication  received  from  home. 
Gray,  either  from  fear  or  from  some  other  reason,  failed 
to  murder  his  chief,  who  at  length  became  so  powerful 
that  Elizabeth  consented  to  make  terms  with  him  and 
to  recognize  his  authority  as  virtual  sovereign  of  Ulster. 
As  a  first  evidence  of  cordiality,  a  present  of  a  cask  of 
wine  was  sent  to  Shan  from  Dublin — where  Sussex  had 
his  headquarters  —  which,  consumed  at  table,  brought 
the  Irish  leader  and  half  his  household  to  the  point  of 
death.  To  such  a  mode  of  conducting  a  friendly  inter- 
course Shan  naturally  objected.  He  made  a  great  out- 
cry, which  probably  would  have  been  louder  had  he 


*  Froude,  viii.  29. 


378       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

known  of  the  previous  dealings  with  Gray,  and  demand- 
ed an  investigation.  This  was  begun,  the  wine  was 
traced  back  to  an  Enghsh  resident  in  Dubhn,  b}'  the 
name  of  Smith,  who  admitted  that  he  had  jDoisoned  it. 
Sussex  denied  all  complicity  in  the  attempted  crime,  the 
guilt  of  which  Smith  took  upon  himself ;  but  the  subor- 
dinate was  never  punished,  and  Shan  as  a  reward  for 
dropping  the  inquiry  received  renewed  concessions.* 
Even  with  all  the  mystery  surrounding  this  affair,  the 
denial  of  Sussex  might  be  of  value  but  for  his  letter  to 
Elizabeth  setting  forth  the  details  of  his  former  plot. 
The  man  wdio  could  incite  a  servant  to  assassinate  his 
master  would  hardly  shrink  from  the  use  of  poison  to 
accomplish  the  same  purpose.  Evidently  both  Elizabeth 
and  her  deputy  were  borne  down  by  the  consciousness 
of  guilt. t 

When  a  certain  class  of  modern  Englishmen  feel  too 
much  oppressed  with  that  sense  of  an  inherited  superi- 
ority which  ascribes  to  some  moral  defect  in  the  Latin 


*  Froude,  viii.  50. 

t  See  also  as  to  Englishmen's  familiarity  with  the  use  of  poison, 
the  negotiations  between  Lord  Burghley  and  Woodshawe,  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman  honorably  connected,  who  had  been  engaged  in  a 
burglary,  and  offered  to  make  his  peace  by  poisoning  any  one  in  the 
Netherlands  whom  the  queen  wished  out  of  the  way.  Burghley,  as 
might  be  expected,  declined  his  offers.  Froude,  xi.  45.  Some  fur- 
ther illustrations  of  the  mode  in  which  Elizabeth  and  even  Charles 
II.  played  with  assassination  will  be  given  hereafter  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  alleged  plots  of  the  Jesuits  for  the  assassination  of 
Elizabeth  herself  In  connection  with  the  general  subject  of  poison- 
ing, it  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  refer  to  the  stories  told 
about  Leicester  and  the  professional  poisoner  in  his  service  (see 
"  The  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  by  Hopkins),  and  to  the  ex- 
ploits of  the  Countess  of  Somerset  in  the  next  reign. 


EXPLOITS   OF    OTHER   ENGLISH    WORTHIES  379 

races  the  assassinations  connived  at,  if  not  incited  by, 
the  Jesuits,  the  poisonings  at  the  ItaUan  court,  and  the 
other  crimes  of  a  like  character  famihar  to  portions  of 
the  Continent  in  former  ages,  they  may  with  much 
profit  turn  to  the  story  of  Shan  O'N'eii  and  the  Earl  of 
Sussex.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  they  feel  inclined  to 
ascribe  to  the  malign  effects  of  Puritanism  the  actions 
of  Cromwell  in  Ireland,  and  those  of  the  Puritans  in 
New  England,  the  study  of  such  incidents  as  the  fol- 
lowing may  also  serve  a  useful  purpose. 

In  1569,  Shan  0']^eil  having  died,  and  Ireland  being 
again  unsettled,  it  occurred  to  some  of  the  adventurous 
spirits  of  England  that  the  sister  island  afforded  a  fine 
field  for  a  speculation.  They  therefore,  to  the  number 
of  twenty-seven,  mostly  freebooters  from  Devonshire 
and  Somersetshire,  proposed  to  the  government  that  the 
whole  province  of  Munster  should  be  granted  to  them, 
and  that  they  in  turn  w^ould  make  it  peaceful  by,  if 
need  be,  the  utter  extermination  of  the  natives.  This 
proposal  excited  some  discussion,  but  only  as  to  de- 
tails, and,  action  on  it  being  delayed,  a  new  scheme  was 
taken  up. 

In  the  previous  century  the  Irish  had  driven  out 
some  of  the  old  Norman  robber  families  and  repos- 
sessed themselves  of  their  ancestral  lands.  The  great- 
grandchildren of  these  ejected  landlords  still  kept  the 
ancient  title-deeds,  which  were  considered  valuable  sim- 
ply as  historical  curiosities.  Several  of  the  original 
speculators — among  w^hom  were  Sir  Philip  Carew,  Sir 
Warham  St.  Leger,  Sir  Kichard  Grenville,  and  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  all  well-known  English  worthies,  and  prominent 
among  the  men  who  made  the  age  of  Elizabeth  illustrious 
— having  acquired  some  of  these  claims,  set  out,  with  a 
large  body  of  retainers,  to  look  after  their  properties, 


380       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

without  waiting  for  the  action  of  tlie  government.  Ar- 
riving in  Ireland,  they  began  to  take  possession  of  their 
estates,  and  naturally  enough  the  occupants  objected. 
In  July,  Sir  Philip  Carew  attacked  the  house  of  Sir 
Edward  Butler,  and  massacred  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  within  the  walls,  not  sparing  even  a  little  boy  three 
years  of  age.* 

The  news  of  the  intended  extermination  of  the  Irish 
having  spread  through  the  country,  caused  what  history 
calls  a  rebellion,  and  Humphrey  Gilbert,  the  American 
explorer,  half-brother  of  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh,  helped  to 
put  it  down.  In  reporting  officially  to  his  superior  offi- 
cer as  to  his  "manner  of  dealing"  with  the  "rebels,"  he 
says :  "  After  my  first  summoning  of  any  castle  or  fort, 
if  they  would  not  presently  yield  it,  I  would  not  after- 
wards take  it  of  their  gift,  but  won  it  perforce,  how 
many  lives  soever  it  cost,  putting  man,  woman,  and  child 
of  them  to  the  sword."t  For  these  exploits.  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  the  representative  of  the  queen,  and  himself 
ranked  as  one  of  the  worthies  of  the  age,  only  inferior 
to  his  illustrious  son.  Sir  Philip,  conferred  the  honor  of 
knighthood  upon  Gilbert,  and  reported  to  Cecil,  "  For 
the  colonel,  I  cannot  say  enough."  :j: 

In  1573,  the  Earl  of  Essex  went  to  the  ]N"orth  of  Ire- 
land on  a  mission  of  private  plunder.  The  next  year  he 
accepted  the  hospitality  of  one  of  the  O'JSTeils,  Sir  Brian 
MacPhelim,  and  made  him  a  friendly  visit  at  Belfast. 


*  Froude,  x.  502. 

t  Humphrey  Gilbert  to  Sir  H,  Sidney,  Dec,  1569,  MSS.  Ireland, 
Froude,  x.  510. 

I  In  1573,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  served  as  a  volunteer  in  the 
Netherlands,  and,  much  to  the  discredit  of  the  patriots'  cause,  exhib- 
ited there  the  same  ferocity  which  he  had  shown  in  Ireland.  Froude, 
X.  393. 


THE   EAEL   OF    ESSEX   AND    HIS   MASSACRES  381 

After  a  banquet  given  in  honor  of  his  guest,  Sir  Brian 
retired  to  a  house  outside  the  fortress  walls.  As  soon 
as  he  was  asleep,  Essex  set  upon  him  with  a  company  of 
soldiers,  and  murdered  two  hundred  of  his  attendants, 
male  and  female,  the  chief,  his  wife,  and  brother  being 
taken  alive  and  reserved  for  execution.'^  Hearing  of 
this  transaction,  the  queen  wrote  to  the  earl  that  "  he 
was  a  great  ornament  of  her  nobility,"  f 

Incited  by  her  praises,  he  now  did  an  act  which  stands 
out  almost  unique  in  history. 

On  the  coast  of  Antrim,  not  far  from  the  Giant's 
Causeway,  is  the  romantic  island  of  Eathlin,  famous  as 
the  abode  of  Saint  Columba,  and  as  containing  the  castle 
in  which  Robert  Bruce  watched  the  persevering  spider. 
With  steep,  precipitous  sides,  broken  only  at  a  single 
point,  filled  with  caves  and  protected  by  the  sea,  it  was 
always  a  camp  of  refuge,  being  invested  with  some- 
thing of  a  sacred  character.  In  1575,  Essex  invaded 
Antrim  to  put  down  a  petty  insurrection.  Upon  his 
approach  the  insurgents  sent  their  wives  and  children, 
sick  and  aged,  to  this  island  retreat.  The  active  hostili- 
ties amounted  to  little ;  peace  was  soon  restored,  and 
the  English  commander  began  his  march  back  to  Dublin. 
On  the  way  he  was  informed  of  the  precious  colony 
which  was  occuping  Rathlin.  He  forthwith  halted,  and 
sent  a  company  of  soldiers,  led  by  John  JS'orris,  second 
son  of  Lord  ISTorris — Francis  Drake  being  one  of  his 
officers :{: — to  take  possession  of  the  island,  with  direc- 
tions to  kill  whatever  they  should  find. 

They  found  a  few  able-bodied  men  in  Bruce's  castle, 
who  had  been  sent  with  the  women  as  a  guard.     This 


*  Froude,  xi.  200.  t  Idem,  xi.  203. 

I  See  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  article  "Devereux." 


382        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

little  band  could  make  no  defence  against  the  cannon 
Avhich  Norris  had  brought  with  him.  The  place  was 
soon  taken  by  assault,  and  every  human  being  within 
the  walls  slaughtered,  except  the  chief  and  his  family, 
who  were  probably  reserved  for  ransom.  The  victims 
here  numbered  two  hundred,  all  non-combatants,  save 
the  score  or  so  of  the  garrison.  It  was  then  discovered 
that  the  caves  along  the  shore  contained  several  hundred 
others,  mostly  women  and  little  children.  These  cow- 
ering and  helpless  objects  of  pity  the  English  warriors 
proceeded  to  ferret  out,  putting  them  every  one  to  death. 
When  the  work  was  finished,  not  a  woman  or  babe  was 
left  alive.  Essex  reported  to  the  queen  that  the  rebel 
chiefs  had  sent  their  women  and  children  to  the  island, 
"  which  he  had  taken,  and  executed  to  the  number  of  six 
hundred."  The  leading  rebel,  "yellow-haired  Charley 
Macconnell,"  he  said,  "stood  upon  the  mainland  and 
saw  the  taking  of  the  island,  and  was  likely  to  have  run 
mad  for  sorrow,  tearing  and  tormenting  himself,  and 
saying  that  he  there  lost  all  that  ever  he  had."  For 
this  act,  Essex  took  great  credit  to  himself,  and  Elizabeth 
directed  him  to  say  to  ISTorris,  "the  executioner  of  his 
well-designed  enterprise,  that  she  would  not  be  unmind- 
ful of  his  services."  * 

These  are  but  illustrations  of  what  the  English  did  in 
Ireland  long  before  there  was  any  pretext  of  a  religious 
war  or  Spanish  intrigues,  and  when  they  were  bent 
simply  on  plundering  the  natives,  as  Cortez  had  done  in 
Mexico  and  Pizarro  in  Peru  half  a  century  before.  Well 
may  Lecky  say  that  the  Englishmen  in  Ireland  surpassed 
the  ferocity  of  Alva  in  the  ISTetherlands.f 

Lodge  says  that  Sussex,  who  plotted  the  assassination 


*  Froude,  xi.  206.         t "  Englaud  in  tlie  Eighteenth  Century,"  ii.  104 


SUSSEX,  GILBERT,  AND  ESSEX   IN   HISTORY  383 

of  O'Neil,  was  as  "  brave  as  Raleigh,  with  the  piety  of  a 
primitive  Christian,"  *  A  modern  ISTew  England  writer 
calls  him  "one  of  the  children  of  God."t  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  who  was  lost  in  the  Atlantic  on  his  return  from 
America  in  15 S3,  left  to  the  world  the  memorable  say- 
ing, "  We  are  as  near  to  heaven  by  sea  as  by  land." 
Fronde  says  of  Essex,  who  died  shortly  after  his  exploit 
at  Rathlin,  and  whose  widow  married  Leicester,  that  he 
"  was  one  of  the  noblest  of  living  Englishmen."  X  So  he 
doubtless  was ;  he  was  also  a  religious  man,  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  deeply  grieved  over  the  universal  wick- 
edness in  England.  But  these  being  the  best,  what 
shall  we  think  of  their  countrymen  at  large  ?  It  is  the 
very  goodness  of  these  men,  and  their  manifest  uncon- 
sciousness that  they  have  done  anything  inconsistent 
with  their  character  as  Christians  or  soldiers,  that  throw 
the  most  light  on  their  condition,  § 

But  Ireland  furnished  only  Umited  opportunities  for 
the  exhibition  of  the  character  of  Englishmen  when 
brought  into  contact  with  men  of  other  nationalities.  To 
complete  the  full  outline  of  the  picture,  we  must  now 
turn  to  a  broader  field. 

In  the  preceding  pages,  frequent  mention  has  been 


*  "  Illustrations  of  British  History  "  (London,  1791),  i.  367, 

t  "The  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  Hopkins,  1875,  ii,  324. 

I  Froude,  xi.  219. 

§  In  selecting  the  material  for  this  and  the  preceding  chapter,  I 
have  gone,  not  to  the  writings  of  the  Puritans  or  satirists,  but  to 
official  documents  and  the  works  of  standard  English  scholars.  For 
my  illustrations  I  have  chosen  incidents,  not  in  the  lives  of  disrepu- 
table characters,  such  as  can  be  found  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  but, 
with  few  exceptions,  in  those  of  men  who  come  down  to  us  as  repre- 
senting among  their  contemporaries  the  very  flower  of  English  Chris- 
tianity and  civilization. 


384       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

made  of  the  pirates  who  form  so  important  an  element 
of  society  in  the  Elizabethan  age ;  but  the  subject  is  one 
which  deserves  much  more  than  a  passing  notice.  In 
fact,  no  sketch  of  the  period  would  be  complete  which 
omitted  an  account  of  the  growth  of  the  industry  which 
these  heroes  developed,  for  they  were  the  men  who  laid 
the  foundation  of  England's  naval  greatness.  In  addi- 
tion, their  spoliations  upon  the  sea  had  as  marked  an  in- 
fluence upon  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  time  as  the 
plundering  of  the  monasteries  on  the  land,  and  it  was 
largely  through  connivance  at  their  practices  that  Eliza- 
beth was  finally  forced,  against  her  will,  into  the  contest 
between  the  Netherlands  and  Spain. 

The  close  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  opening  of  the 
sixteenth  century  witnessed  upon  the  Continent  of 
Europe  an  outburst  of  commercial  activity  as  remark- 
able as  the  revival  of  art  and  letters  which  has  made 
that  age  so  famous.  England,  however,  took  as  little 
part  in  the  one  as  in  the  other.  Her  commerce  was 
almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  French,  Italian,  Ger- 
man, and  l^etherland  merchants,  while  her  people  upon 
the  land  devoted  themselves  mainly  to  raising  wool, 
and  those  upon  the  sea  to  catching  fish.  About  her 
only  contribution  to  the  early  explorations,  w^hich  the 
mariner's  compass  now  rendered  possible,  Avere  the  dis- 
coveries of  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  sailed  under 
English  colors. 

John  Cabot  was  a  Venetian  merchant,  doing  business 
at  Bristol.  In  1497,  with  five  vessels  fitted  out  at  his 
own  expense,  he  set  sail  across  the  Atlantic,  under  a  pat- 
ent from  Henry  YIL,  to  search  for  countries  "  which 
were  before  that  time  unknown  to  all  Christian  people," 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  trading  with  such  countries 
being  reserved  unconditionally,  and  without  limit  of 


THE    DISCOVERIES    OF   THE    CABOTS  385 

time,  to  his  family  and  their  assigns.'"^  On  this  first  voy- 
age the  mainland  in  the  vicinity  of  Labrador  was  sight- 
ed, and  in  the  next  year  Sebastian,  the  son,  coasted  along 
the  American  continent  to  about  the  southern  boundary 
of  Marjdand,  or  perhaps  a  little  farther  to  the  south, 
N"othing,  however,  came  from  either  of  these  voyages. 
England  at  that  time  was  in  communion  Avith  the 
Church  of  Kome,  and,  in  1493,  Pope  Alexander  YI.  had 
issued  a  bull  which,  as  then  construed,  granted  the  whole 
American  continent  to  Spain  and  Portugal.  Upon  the 
return  of  the  Cabots,  it  was  evident  that  their  alleged 
discoveries  lay  within  the  boundaries  of  the  papal  grant, 
and  the  English  monarch  appears  from  that  time  to  have 
abandoned  all  thought  of  acquiring  the  sovereignty  of 
unknown  countries.f 


*  Hazard's  "  Hist.  Coll.,"  pp.  1-9. 

t  The  theory  of  an  English  title  to  America,  by  virtue  of  Cabot's 
discoveries,  was  first  advanced  about  1580  by  Dr.  Dee,  who  was  fol- 
lowed by  Hakluyt;  but  it  was  never  accepted  by  the  government. 
Before  the  Reformation,  England  never  questioned  the  exclusive  rights 
of  Spain ;  but  when  the  authority  of  the  pope  was  set  aside  she  began 
to  pick  flaws  in  the  papal  grant.  Still,  the  fact  was  adrhitted  that  Spain 
had  discovered  America  several  years  before  the  voyage  of  Cabot. 
Little,  therefore,  was  said  about  his  voyage,  but  England  advanced  the 
doctrine  that  actual  occupation  must  follow  discovery,  or  no  title 
could  be  acquired.  This  was  Elizabeth's  maxim  in  1580,  when  speak- 
ing to  the  Spanish  ambassador.  "  Prescriptio  sine  possessione  baud 
valeat "  (Camden).  The  letters-patent  under  which  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  sailed  and  took  possession  of  Newfoundland,  in  1583,  were 
based  upon  this  legal  princiiDle.  They  made  no  reference  to  Cabot, 
but  authorized  Gilbert  to  discover,  occupy,  and  j)ossess  "such  remote 
heathen  lands,  not  actually  possessed  of  any  Christian  prince  or  peo- 
ple, as  should  seem  good  to  him."  The  patent  to  Sir  "Walter  Ra- 
leigh, in  1584-85,  was  of  the  same  character.  Hazard,  i.  24-33.  The 
Virginia  Charter  of  1606  restricted  colonization  to  lands  "  whicli  are 
I.— 25 


386       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND  AMERICA 

The  discoveries  of  the  Venetian  Cabots  are  of  interest 
to  the  historians  of  early  American  explorations;  but 
they  awakened  httle  enthusiasm  in  England,  and  pro- 
duced no  effect  upon  her  commerce.  That  went  on  as 
before,  being  mostly  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  and  lim- 
ited to  a  very  narrow  field,  which  no  one  thought  of 
broadening.* 

Very  different  were  the  results  which  followed  the 
explorations  undertaken  by  the  sailors  of  Portugal  and 
Spain.  In  1498,  Vasco  da  Gama  rounded  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  about  the  same  time  another  Portuguese 
discovered  a  way  to  India  by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  Short- 
ly afterwards,  their  countrymen  established  at  Goa  the 
first  European  factory  in  India,  and  began  a  commerce 
which  soon  grew  to  large  proportions.!  Spain  in  the 
same  way  improved  her  discoveries  in  the  JSTew  World, 
She  worked  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  Mexico  and 
Peru,  the  pearl  fisheries  of  the  coast,  and  the  sugar  plan- 
tations on  the  islands  in  the  tropics.  The  colonists 
shipped  to  the  mother  country,  which  monopolized  the 
whole  carrying  trade,  their  surplus  products  of  the  fields 


not  now  actually  possessed  by  any  Christian  prince  or  people,"  and 
the  Plymouth  patent  of  1620  contained  the  same  restriction.  In 
1621,  the  House  of  Commons  declared  the  principle  that  "  occupancy 
confers  a  good  title  by  the  law  of  nations  and  nature."  Chalmers's 
"Political  Annals,"  i.  10.  This  was  always  the  doctrine  of  James  I, 
Gardiner's  "  History  of  England,"  iii.  40. 

*  Froude,  viii.  435.  Several  patents  were  issued  to  English  explor- 
ers after  the  return  of  the  Cabots,  but  they  came  to  nothing.  "  Eng- 
lish Colonies  in  America"  (Virginia,  Maryland,  etc.),  by  J.  A.  Doyle, 
p.  26,  etc. 

t  It  was  in  1600,  more  than  a  century  later,  that  the  English  East 
India  Company  was  organized,  on  a  very  small  scale ;  and  then  no 
factory  was  established  for  ten  or  eleven  years. 


SrANISH   AND    ENGLISH    SHIPPING  387 

and  woods,  and  in  return  took  the  manufactured  prod- 
ucts of  the  European  looms  and  workshops.  So  rap- 
idly did  the  commerce  of  Spain  develop  that  at  the 
time  of  her  greatest  prosperity  she  had  a  thousand  mer- 
chantmen upon  the  ocean.* 

In  one  direction  England  felt  the  effects  of  the  new 
markets  opened  up  in  America  and  the  East  Indies. 
They  increased  the  demand  for  her  wool  and  cheap 
wooUen  goods,  and  so  raised  their  prices.  In  return,  she 
imported  so  much  from  the  Continent,  especially  in  the 
way  of  luxuries — the  consumption  of  wine,  for  example, 
having  increased  fourfold  in  a  few  years — that  old  and 
conservative  statesmen  became  alarmed.  StiU,  this  new 
trade  was  mostly  carried  on  by  foreigners,  and  little 
benefited  Enghsh  shipping.  When  Henry  YIII.  broke 
with  the  pope,  he  concluded  to  strengthen  himself  upon 
the  ocean,  and  made  some  attempts  to  estabhsh  a  navy. 
How  nttle  was  accomplished  is  shown  by  the  fact  that, 
upon  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  the  whole  naval  force 
in  commission  amounted  to  seven  coast-guard  vessels, 
the  largest  of  which  was  only  one  hundred  and  twenty 
tons,  with  eight  small  merchant  brigs  and  schooners  al- 
tered for  fighting.  Of  ships  in  harbor  fit  for  service 
there  were  twenty-one.f 


*  In  1582,  England  had  no  more  than  two  hundred  and  seventeen 
vessels  above  eighty  tons  burden.  Wade,  i.  148.  The  Spaniards 
studied  navigation  as  a  science.  The  "  Contraction  House  "  at  Se- 
ville was  virtually  a  college  of  navigation,  giving  instruction  and 
conferring  degrees.  Henry  VIH.  attempted  something  of  the  kind 
in  England,  but  the  results  were  paltry.  Doyle,  p.  33.  In  the  latter 
days  of  Elizabeth,  Englishmen  needed  no  colleges  of  navigation ; 
their  school  was  the  ocean. 

t  Froude,  vii.  59. 


388        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Upon  the  fishing  industry  of  England  the  Reforma- 
tion produced  the  most  disastrous  effects.  Under  the  old 
religion,  no  meat  was  allowed  to  any  one  on  fast-days, 
and  these  made  up  nearly  a  third  of  the  year.  ISTow  the 
eating  of  fish  was  looked  on  with  some  suspicion  as  a 
token  of  papistical  inclinations,  and  meat  was  ostenta- 
tiously displayed,  even  on  Fridays  and  in  Lent.  .  Thus  it 
came  about  that,  while  France  sent  annually  five  hun- 
dred vessels  to  the  Newfoundland  fishing-banks,  even 
the  home  fisheries  around  the  English  coast  fell  into  the 
hands  of  foreigners.*  Hence  with  an  increasing  trade 
and  growing  wealth,  the  port  towns  were  strangely 
enough  falling  into  decay.f 

Taking  all  the  facts  of  the  situation  into  account,  the 
outlook  for  English  shipping  did  not  seem  very  brill- 
iant. In  fact,  it  was  so  gloomy  that  the  wise  and  far- 
sighted  Cecil  thought  of  it  with  serious  apprehension. 
Something  must  be  done,  he  said,  to  build  up  a  fleet 


*  When  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  went  to  Newfoundland  in  1583,  and 
took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  Elizabeth,  as  an  un- 
known land,  he  found  there  thirty-six  vessels  of  other  nations  en- 
gaged in  catching  fish.     Doyle,  p.  50. 

f  A  very  interesting  account  of  the  condition  of  English  commerce 
in  1552  is  given  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Cecil  by  Thomas  Barnaby,  a 
merchant,  and  one  of  the  foreign  agents  of  Edward  VI.  It  is  among 
the  Cecil  manuscripts;  a  copy  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to 
Strype's  "Ecclesiastical  Memorials,"  ii.  151.  He  states  that  the 
French  had  more  sailors  in  a  single  town  than  the  English  had  in 
all  their  southern  sea-ports;  that  even  English  coal  was  exported 
wholly  in  French  vessels ;  and  that  all  tlie  maritime  towns  of  Eng- 
land were  going  to  decay.  He  stated  that  if  the  coal-trade  could  be 
restricted  to  English  ships,  employment  would  be  found  for  six  or 
seven  thousand  sailors.  Cecil,  when  he  became  minister  under  Eliza- 
beth, tried  in  vain  to  carry  out  some  of  Barnaby's  suggestions. 


ENGLISH   PIRACY,  ITS    ORIGIN    AND    CHARACTER  389 

and  to  educate  a  race  of  sailors.  After  his  custom  he 
set  down  in  writing  his  views  upon  this  subject,  and  the 
paper,  prepared  in  the  first  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign, 
still  exists.  Three  means  occurred  to  him  for  the  en- 
couragement of  mariners :  first,  "  merchandise ;"  sec- 
ond, "fishing;"  third,  "the  exercise  of  piracy,  which 
was  detestable  and  could  not  last."  *  To  carry  out  his 
ideas,  he  proposed  a  "  IS'avigation  act "  placing  foreign 
ships  under  disabilities ;  but  this  was  not  to  come  for 
nearly  a  century,  when  it  proved  a  great  success.  Then 
he  tried  to  make  the  people  eat  fish  by  means  of  an  act 
of  Parliament ;  but  this  scheme  was  unpopular,  and  it 
had  to  be  abandoned.  Nothing  now  was  left  but  the 
piracy,  so  detestable  to  the  statesman,  but  so  congenial 
to  the  Englishmen  at  large.  Despite  Cecil's  prophecy  it 
did  last,  and  on  it  was  built  up  Britain's  naval  greatness. 
The  practice  began  at  the  time  of  the  Marian  perse- 
cutions, when  a  number  of  men  from  the  best  families 
took  to  the  sea  as  roving  chiefs.  Upon  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth,  most  of  the  leaders  returned  home  and  ob- 
tained places  under  government.  But  their  crews  re- 
mained behind,  and  to  them  were  added  the  large  num- 
ber of  fishermen  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  ruin 
of  their  business.  The  increase  of  trade  made  piracy 
profitable,  and  it  gradually  attracted  to  itself  most  of 
the  wild  and  adventurous  sjDirits  of  the  country.  The 
result  was  that  within  a  few  years  England  occupied 
towards  the  l^orth  of  Europe  much  the  same  position 
that  Algiers  occupied  towards  the  South,  her  people 
levying  contributions  on  all  the  world.f 


*  Trade  notes,  Domestic  MSS.  Eliz.  vol.  xli.  Rolls  House,  cited  by 
Froude,  viii.  445. 
t  "  As  the  modern  gentleman  keeps  his  yacht,  so  Elizabeth's  loyal 


390       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

It  has  been  much  the  fashion  to  speak  of  the  cor- 
sairs "who  gave  England  her  supremacy  upon  the  sea  as 
if  they  were  men  inflamed  by  a  zeal  for  Protestantism, 
who,  to  revenge  the  atrocities  of  the  Inquisition,  levied 
private  war  on  Spain.  But  such  a  view  of  the  facts  has 
only  a  tinge  of  truth,  for  it  reverses  the  order  of  events. 
The  English  piracies  came  first,  then  followed  the  retri- 
butions of  Spain,  and  lastly  the  fiery  indignation  of  the 
Englishman  which  had  such  a  marked  effect  on  Euro- 
pean history. 

Long  and  earnestl}^  did  Spain,  whose  king  was  friend- 
ly to  England,  labor  to  keep  the  peace.  The  English 
minister  at  Madrid  expostulated  with  his  government, 
described  the  outrages  committed  on  Spanish  commerce, 
and  foretold  the  certainty  of  retaliation;  but  it  was  all 
in  vain.  The  old  Avild  blood  was  up,  the  blood  which 
coursed  through  the  veins  of  Saxon,  Dane,  and  N'orse- 
man.  After  the  lapse  of  centuries,  the  Englishman  had 
again  found  his  natural  element  and  calling.  Friend 
and  foe,  Protestant  and  Romanist,  Dutchman,  French- 
man, Portuguese,  and  Spaniard,  all  were  plundered 
alike.  It  was  not  war,  but  simple  pillage  and  murder. 
In  1563,  long  before  hostilities  with  Spain  were  thought 
of,  a  Spanish  vessel  sailed  from  Flanders  with  a  cargo 
valued  at  eighty  thousand  ducats,  Thomas  Cobham,  son 
of  Lord  Cobham  of  Cowling  Castle,  chanced  to  be  cruising 
in  the  Channel,  Catching  sight  of  the  vessel,  he  chased 
her  down  into  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  fired  into  her,  killed  a 
number  of  the  crew,  and  boarding,  after  all  resistance 
had  ceased,  sewed  up  the  survivors  in  their  own  sails 


burghers,  squires,  or  knights,  whose  inclination  led  that  way,  kept 
their  ambiguous  cruisers,  and  levied  war  on  their  own  account  when 
the  government  lagged  behind  its  duty." — Froude,  viii.  449, 


DEVELOPMENT   AND   EXTENT    OF   THE   INDUSTRY  391 

and  threw  them  overboard.  Then,  scutthng  the  ship, 
he  made  off  vf^ith  the  booty  to  his  pirate  den  in  the 
South  of  Ireland.*  Even  the  inoffensive  Dutch  fisher- 
men, although  Protestants,  did  not  escape,  and  perhaps 
the}'"  were  the  worst  sufferers  of  all.  The  English  con- 
stantly boarded  their  fishing  smacks,  took  out  every- 
thing, down  even  to  the  clothing  of  the  men,  and  left 
them  naked  to  drift  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves. 

Of  course,  the  government  had,  at  times,  to  make  a 
pretence  of  prosecuting  the  offenders ;  but,  remembering 
the  way  in  which  justice  was  then  administered,  the  far- 
cical results  can  be  readily  imagined.  Cobham,  the 
year  after  the  exploit  above  narrated,  Avas  tried  for 
piracy  in  London,  at  the  urgent  demand  of  the  Spanish 
minister.  The  evidence  against  him  was  complete,  but 
he  escaped  conviction  in  the  usual  manner,  and  was 
soon  back  at  his  old  occupation.  In  1566,  the  English 
authorities,  while  trying  to  excuse  their  conduct  tow- 
ards Spain,  were  forced  to  admit  that  they  had  never 
executed  a  single  pirate.f 

Thus  the  industry  grew  and  flourished.  The  English 
allowed  other  people  to  catch  their  fish;  they  helped 
themselves  after  the  hauls  were  made.  They  permitted 
the  JS^etherlanders  to  manufacture  all  the  finer  products 
of  the  loom,  content  to  take  their  share,  in  the  good 
old  way,  after  the  work  was  done.  ISTearly  every  gen- 
tleman along  the  western  coast,  whether  Protestant  or 
Catholic,  was  engaged  in  the  business.  Their  manor 
houses  were  filled  with  the  spoils  of  their  cruisers,  and 
the  surplus  went  to  London,  where  the  pirates  sunned 
themselves  in  the  rays  of  royal  favor.     The  occupation 


*  Froude,  viii.  460.  t  Idem,  viii.  478. 


393        THE   PUEITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

had  come  to  stay.  The  men  who  beat  off  the  Spanish 
Arma,cla  did  a  noble  work  for  England  and  the  world, 
but  they  were  pirates  none  the  less.  Throughout  the 
entire  reign  of  Elizabeth  they  were  preying  on  the  com- 
merce of  their  Dutch  allies ;  and  Henry  IV.  of  France, 
in  1603,  declined  an  invitation  to  visit  England,  from 
fear  that  they  would  capture  him  while  crossing  the 
Channel.* 

If  now  it  seems  strange  that  the  Continental  powers 
permitted  this  piracy  to  flourish  so  long  in  England, 
we  must  remember  that  it  continued  in  Algiers,  her 
rival  in  the  business,  down  to  the  year  1830,  despite  the 
combined  efforts  of  all  Christendom.  The  one  was  pro- 
tected by  the  Mediterranean  and  the  sands  of  Africa, 
the  other  by  the  broad  "  deep  ditch  "  which  divided  her 
from  the  Continent. 

Out  of  her  piracies  in  the  Channel  and  along  the 
coast  grew  up  England's  slave-trade  and  this  led  to 
piratical  expeditions  on  the  wider  scale,  to  be  followed 
by  results  of  great  moment.  From  quite  an  early  day 
the  Portuguese  explorers  of  Africa  had  carried  on  a 
slave-trade  with  the  natives.  It  began  about  1442, 
when  ten  black  men,  who  had  been  exchanged  for  some 
Moorish  captives,  were  brought  to  Portugal  and  aston- 
ished the  Europeans  by  their  color.  Thenceforward 
negroes,  both  bond  and  free,  were  quite  common  in  the 
cities  of  the  Peninsula,  although  the  traffic  in  human 
flesh  was  not  extensive,  since,  at  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury, the  number  of  blacks  exported  from  Africa  did 
not  exceed  a  few  hundred  annually.f  They  were  most- 
ly used  as  house-servants,  nothing  in  the  soil  or  climate 


*  Motley's  "  United  Netherlands,"  iv.  146-151. 

t  Helps's  "  Spanish  Conquests  in  America,"  i.  43-86,  Harper's  ed. 


NEGRO    SLAVERY   IN    AMERICA  393 

tempting  the  agriculturist  to  employ  them  on  the  land. 
Unfortunately,  the  discovery  of  the  ISTew  World  opened 
up  a  field  of  a  different  character,  one  in  which  slave 
labor  was  very  profitable,  while  even  misguided  philan- 
thropy lent  its  aid  to  aggravate  the  evil. 

It  is  an  error,  long  ago  exploded,  to  suppose  that  ne- 
gro slavery  was  first  introduced  into  America  through 
the  efforts  of  Las  Casas.  It  existed  there  before  his 
time,  but  he,  unhappily,  gave  to  its  growth  a  great  and 
sudden  impetus.  Deeply  impressed  with  the  sufferings 
of  the  Indians,  who,  reduced  to  substantial  slavery  by 
the  Spaniards,  were  forced  to  a  labor  in  the  mine  and 
field  to  w^hich  they  were  unaccustomed,  the  large-heart- 
ed but  too  enthusiastic  churchman  thought  that  he  saw 
a  solution  of  the  difficulty.  Bring  in  the  negro,  and  the 
problem  would  be  solved.  He  was  docile,  accustomed 
to  labor,  ignorant,  brutal,  and  in  every  respect  of  a  very 
different  character  from  the  gentle,  half-civilized  inhab- 
itants of  Mexico  or  Peru.  He  was  also  a  heathen,  and 
his  residence  among  Christians  would  be  of  advantage 
to  his  soul.  It  was  largely  upon  this  recommendation, 
made  in  1517,  that  the  trade  was  expanded,  and  that 
negro  slaves  were  sent  into  the  colonies  by  thousands.* 

Las  Casas  lived  long  enough  to  repent  of  the  advice 
which  he  had  given,  and  it  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the 
government  of  Spain  that  her  officials  used  every  effort  to 
repair  the  wrong  which  had  been  innocently  done.  Even 
from  the  outset  the  Spanish  law  had  thrown  around  the 
negro  safeguards  unknown  among  other  nations.  The 
slave  had  secured  to  him  a  part  of  every  week,  when  his 
time  was  his  own.  He  could  insist  upon  his  freedom 
when  able  to  purchase  it ;  he  could  own  property  in  his 

*  Helps,  ii.  21,  23. 


394        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

own  right;  and  the  records  of  the  Spanish  colonies  of 
the  sixteenth  century  prove  that  many  a  negro,  who 
went  there  as  a  slave,  rose  to  the  position  of  a  free  and 
successful  planter,*  Still,  the  law  was  ineffectual  to  pro- 
tect the  negro,  however  stringent  were  its  regulations 
for  his  w^elfare.  The  slaves  were  abundant  and  cheap, 
and  their  lives  of  little  value  to  an  owner  working  an 
unhealthy  mine  or  plantation  where  the  profits  of  labor 
were  enormous. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  the  home  'government 
adopted  a  policy  apparently  well  calculated  to  check 
the  growing  evil.  It  determined  to  enhance  the  value 
of  the  slaves  and  thus  make  it  to  the  interest  of  the 
master  to  preserve  their  health.  Hence  the  governors 
of  the  colonies  were  instructed  to  prevent  the  importa- 
tion of  negroes,  unless  under  a  license  from  Spain,  which 
was  expensive  and  charily  given,  while  a  duty  of  thirty 
ducats  on  each  slave  still  further  increased  his  price.f 


*  Helps.  A  very  erroneous  impression  seems  to  prevail  in  regard 
to  the  conduct  of  the  Spanish  government,  not  only  towards  the  ne- 
gro, but  towards  the  native  population  in  America.  In  relation  to 
the  latter  it  has  been  justly  remarked  that  "  none  of  the  European 
powers  manifested  so  sincere  a  purpose  to  joromote  the  welfare  of  a 
conquered  people.  The  rulers  of  Sjoain  were  continually  enacting 
laws,  which  erred  only  in  being  more  just  and  wise  than  the  country 
in  its  disordered  condition  was  able  to  receive.  They  continually 
sought  to  protect  the  Indians  by  regulations  extending  to  the  mi- 
nutest detail,  and  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  thoughtful  and  even  tender 
kindness." — Mackenzie's  "  America,"  title  "  South  America,"  chap, 
iii.  In  all  this  work  the  Church  of  Rome  did  noble  service.  Tlie 
difficulty  was  that  the  colonists,  wild,  reckless,  and  roaming  over  a 
boundless  continent  in  search  of  gold,  could  not  be  restrained.  It 
is  to  the  individuals,  and  not  to  the  government,  that  we  should  im- 
pute the  crimes  which  disgrace  our  human  nature. 

t  Froude,  viii.  p.  482. 


EKGLAND  ENTERS  ON  THE  SLAVE-TKADE         3&5 

About  the  same  time  the  Church  of  Rome,  awakened  to 
the  horrors  of  the  traffic,  thundered  its  imprecations  on 
the  Europeans  who  should  enslave  their  fellow -man, 
whether  African  or  Indian.  It  even  became  usual  for 
a  Spanish  vessel  sailing  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to 
carry  a  priest,  in  order  to  prevent  the  kidnapping  of  the 
aborigines.* 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  England,  with  her  long 
practice  in  piracy,  stepped  in  to  take  up  the  trade  which 
the  papal  world  began  to  loathe.  Her  mariners  and 
statesmen  made  no  pretence  of  doing  missionary  work ; 
they  professed  no  motives  of  philanthropy.  To  be  sure 
the}^  besought  the  aid  of  Heaven ;  but  it  was  for  them- 
selves, and  not  for  their  victims.  They  had  but  one  ob- 
ject :  to  exchange  human  flesh  for  gold.  .  They  made 
England  the  great  slave-trader  of  the  world,  forcing  the 
curse  upon  her  American  colonies,  despite  their  contin- 
ued protests  and  entreaties,  down  to  the  very  yeax  that 
gave  to  the  United  States  a  separate  existence.f 

The  first  English  slave  expedition  of  importance  was 
undertaken  by  John  Hawkins  in  1563.  He  sailed  for 
the  coast  of  Africa  with  three  vessels  and  a  hundred 
men,  collected  three  hundred  negroes,  "partl}^  by  the 
sword  and  partly  by  other  means,"  and  then  crossed  the 
Atlantic  to  St.  Domingo.  There,  through  false  repre- 
sentations to  the  governor,  he  sold   two  thirds  of  his 


*  Bancroft,  i.  173. 

t  It  is  estimated  that  in  the  single  century  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  England  kidnapped  from  Africa  over  three  million 
human  beings,  of  whom  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  were  thrown 
into  the  Atlantic.  Bancroft,  iii.  411.  See  this  author  as  to  the  nu- 
merous laws  passed  in  the  American  colonies  against  the  further  in- 
troduction of  negro  slaves,  all  of  which  were  vetoed  in  England  as 
detrimental  to  English  prosperity- 


396        TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

cargo  at  a  large  profit,  and  invested  the  proceeds  in 
hides,  half  of  which  he  shipped  to  Spain,  returning  with 
the  other  half  to  England.*  The  Spanish  monarch  was 
greatly  incensed  when  he  heard  of  these  transactions. 
IS^ot  onl}^  did  they  violate  the  la\v  common  to  all  coun- 
tries, and  always  particularly  insisted  on  by  England, 
under  which  trade  with  the  colonies  was  reserved  to  the 
mother  country,  but  they  threatened  a  serious  interfer- 
ence with  his  scheme  for  ameliorating  the  condition  of 
the  negro.  The  vessel  which  Hawkins  sent  to  Spain  was 
seized,  its  cargo  confiscated — the  captain  barely  escap- 
ing the  Inquisition — and  an  order  was  despatched  to  the 
West  Indies  that  no  English  vessel  should  be  allowed  to 
trade  there,  under  any  pretence  whatsoever.  So  earnest 
was  the  government,  and  so  decided  the  expressions  of 
the  king,  that  the  English  ambassador  wrote  to  Eliza- 
beth urging  her  most  strongly  to  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  such  violations  of  law. 

The  answer  was  a'second  expedition,  in  which  Lord 
Pembroke  and  other  members  of  the  council  were  share- 
holders, while  the  queen  supplied  a  ship,  the  Jesus  of 
Lxibeck.  This  time  Hawkins  kidnapped  four  hundred 
Africans.  It  was  a  dangerous  business,  for  the  ignorant 
negroes  did  not  appreciate  the  benefits  which  these  Chris- 
tians intended  for  them,  and  at  times  made  a  stout  resist- 
ance. However,  God,  the  Englishmen  said,  was  on  their 
side,t  and  the  voyage  proved  a  great  success.  The  Sj^an- 
ish  governors  objected  to  the  landing  of  any  blacks  in 
their  colonies,  but  English  cannon  overcame  such  scru- 
ples ;  the  cargo  was  disposed  of,  and  Hawkins  returned 

*  Hakluyt's  "  Voyages,"  vol.  iii. 

t  See  the  report  of  the  voyage  in  Hakluyt,  where  evidence  is  given 
of  the  protecting  care  of  the  Almighty, "  who  never  suffers  his  elect 
to  perish." 


HAWKINS'S    DISASTROUS   VOYAGE  397 

home,  to  divide  sixty  per  cent.  j)rofits  among  his  share- 
holders, with  a  handsome  allowance  to  the  queen.* 

The  third  of  Hawkins's  voyages  had  a  very  different 
ending — one  that  fired  the  English  heart.  The  King  of 
Spain,  after  the  second  expedition,  had  raised  such  an 
outcry  that  Elizabeth  was  obliged  to  promise  that  noth- 
ing of  the  kind  should  occur  again.  According  to  her 
mode  of  keeping  such  engagements,  she,  in  1567,  again 
placed  the  Jesus  at  the  disposal  of  Hawkins,  who  sailed 
for  Africa  with  four  more  ships,  all  powerfully  armed, 
taking  with  him  a  young  kinsman,  Erancis  Drake.  Eun- 
ning  down  as  far  as  Sierra  Leone,  the  vessels  were  speed- 
ily loaded  with  all  the  negroes  they  would  hold.  In  car- 
rying out  this  laudable  enterprise,  Hawkins,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  set  fire  to  a  city,  the  huts  of  which 
were  covered  with  dry  palm  leaves,  and  out  of  eight 
thousand  inhabitants  succeeded  in  seizing  two  hundred 
and  fifty.f 

Crossing  the  Atlantic,  he  now  added  the  occupation 
of  a  pirate  to  that  of  a  slave-merchant.  The  result  was, 
that  from  the  sale  of  his  cargoes,  and  the  plunder  of  such 
unarmed  vessels  as  he  met  along  the  coast,  he  accumu- 
lated an  enormous  treasure. :{;  As  his  vessels  needed  re- 
pairs, and  he  had  still  four  hundred  negroes  undisposed 
of,  he  put  into  the  harbor  of  St.  Jean  de  Luz.  Unfort- 
unately, the  Spanish  admiral,  who  for  some  time  had 
been  on  the  lookout  for  these  pirates,  entered  the  har- 
bor with  a  fleet  of  nineteen  vessels,  opened  fire  upon 
them,  and  compelled  Hawkins  and  his  sailors  to  aban- 


*  Froude,  viii.  491.  t  Hakluyt,  iii.  618,  619. 

\  He  estimated  it  at  nearly  two  million  pounds,  mostly  in  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones;  probably  a  great  exaggeration.  Hak- 
luyt, iii.  620. 


398       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

don  their  plunder  and  take  to  sea  in  two  small  tenders. 
The  next  day,  a  hundred  of  the  crew  left  their  comrades, 
who  were  short  of  water  and  provisions,  and,  being  put 
on  shore,  were  captured  by  the  Spaniards  and  carried  to 
Mexico.  The  remainder,  with  Hawkins  and  Drake,  took 
their  sad  way  across  the  Atlantic,  bearing  with  them 
their  tale  of  woe  and  the  ineffaceable  remembrance  of 
their  bitter  wrongs. 

They  reached  home  just  in  the  nick  of  time.  Some 
French  privateers,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter, 
had  driven  into  the  English  harbors  a  number  of  vessels 
carrying  money  borrowed  by  Philip  from  Italian  bank- 
ers, for  the  payment  of  the  Spanish  troops  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. Elizabeth  had  been  a  little  undecided  as  to  her 
duty  towards  a  friendly  power  whose  property  was  thus 
providentially  placed  within  her  reach.  On  hearing, 
however,  of  the  enormous  loss  which  she  had  sustained 
at  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  across  the  ocean,  all  her 
hesitation  vanished.  She  helped  herself  to  the  Spanish 
silver,  with  a  consciousness  of  well-doing  that  would 
have  reflected  honor  on  any  of  the  pirates  of  her  realm.* 

How  this  high-handed  act  of  robbery  affected  the 
Netherlands  we  have  already  seen.  It  led  to  Alva's 
proclamation  of  non-intercourse  with  England,  which  for 
a  time  consolidated  the  manufacturing  and  commercial 
classes  of  the  country  in  their  opposition  to  Spain.  But 
its  effects  upon  England  were  no  less  marked.  Non- 
intercourse  with  the  Netherlands  threw  all  business  into 
confusion,  and  at  first  seemed  to  threaten  wide-spread 
and  permanent  disaster.  In  the  end,  however,  it  was 
productive  of  great  good.  The  English  maritime  and 
trading  spirit  was  aroused,  never  to  sleep  again.     Shut 


*  Froude,  ix.  371. 


OPEN    WAR    WITH    SPAIN    SEEMS   INEVITABLE  399 

out  temporarily  from  the  markets  of  the  Netherlands, 
the  English  producers  began  to  seek  markets  for  them- 
selves, and  they  found  that  there  was  a  profit  in  legiti- 
mate commerce,  as  well  as  in  pre3"ing  on  their  neighbors. 
From  this  time  forward  they  sought  to  compete  with 
Spain  and  the  ISTetherlands  for  the  carrying  trade  of  the 
w^orld."^ 

In  the  first  excitement  attending  these  w^holesale  acts 
of  reprisal,  an  open  war  appeared  inevitable.  Burghley, 
Elizabeth's  prime  minister,  was  in  favor  of  it,  believing 
that  the  time  had  come  for  a  Protestant  coalition  against 
Spain.  But  Elizabeth,  with  her  habitual  dislike  of  ex- 
treme measures,  and  having  her  own  scheme  of  self- 
preservation,  held  back,  and  began  to  apologize  for  her 
recent  conduct.  On  the  other  hand,  Philip,  as  soon  as 
his  first  irritation  had  subsided,  also  felt  pacific.  About 
the  last  advice  which  he  had  received  from  his  astute 
father  was  to  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  England. 
With  France  he  w^as  in  a  chronic  state  of  w^  ar,  and  the 
revolt  in  the  ISTetherlands  was  daily  becoming  more 


*  The  Royal  Exchange  in  London  was  opened  to  tlie  public  in 
1568,  but  it  was  some  years  before  it  was  much  used.  It  was  found- 
ed by  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  who  was  for  a  long  period  the  financial 
agent  of  Elizabeth  in  the  Netherlands.  Deriving  the  idea  of  a  mer- 
chants' exchange  from  that  country,  he  copied  to  a  large  extent  the 
exchange  at  Antwerp  in  his  building,  and  imported  an  architect, 
carpenters,  and  most  of  his  material  from  Flanders.  We  find  from 
Gresham's  correspondence  that  he  also  imported  for  Lord  Burghley, 
who  was  then  building  a  new  country-house,  paving-stones,  wain- 
scot-galleries, chairs,  and  wagons.  Commenting  on  these  facts,  his 
biographer  somewhat  naively  says :  "  It  is  quite  surprising  to  per- 
ceive to  what  an  extent,  at  this  period,  an  English  edifice  was  in- 
debted to  Continental  artificers,  not  merely  for  its  decorations,  but 
for  its  most  material  features." — Burgon's  "  Life  of  Gresham, "ii.  115, 
116, 178.     Such  writers  fail  to  recognize  the  condition  of  England. 


400       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

threatening.  He  therefore  smothered  his  anger,  and 
made  a  pretence  of  believing  the  excuses  of  Elizabeth, 
which  never  deceived  any  one,  except  perhaps  herself. 

Although  Elizabeth,  when  confronted  with  the  peril 
of  an  open  war,  was  ready  enough  to  make  excuses  and 
promises  to  Philip,  she  could  never  bring  herself,  even 
if  she  had  the  power,  to  suppress  the  private  war  which 
her  subjects  were  carrying  on  by  sea.  It  is  a  great  mis- 
take, however,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  to  look  upon 
this  contest,  at  least  in  its  early  stages,  as  a  Protestant 
warfare.  Elizabeth  herself  fully  sympathized  with  Alva, 
and  rejoiced  over  his  successes  in  the  ISTetherlands.* 
Her  subjects,  too,  had  at  first  as  little  religious  feeling 
as  she  had  herself.  The  Catholics  were  in  a  majority 
on  the  western  coast  of  England,  where  the  pirates  had 
their  headquarters.  In  1569  they  sent  thirty  thousand 
pounds  to  Coligny  to  support  the  Huguenot  cause  in 
France,  because  their  privateers  were  sailing  under  his 
colors,  and  preying  on  the  commerce  of  their  fellow- 
Catholics  of  France  and  Spain.  Still,  the  Protestant 
leaven  was  at  work,  and  the  world  was  to  advance  even 
through  English  greed. 

We  have  seen  how  Hawkins,  in  his  last  unfortunate 
expedition,  left  behind  him  in  Mexico  about  a  hundred 
of  his  crew  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards. 
Most  of  them  were  sent  to  Spain,  and  there  turned  over 
to  the  Inquisition,  gentle  means  having  failed  to  sup- 
press their  practices.  Subjected  to  the  rack,  their  nom- 
inal Protestantism  gave  way,  and  almost  all  of  them 
recanted.  Still,  recantation  did  not  save  them  from  pun- 
ishment for  piracy,  and  the  story  was  brought  to  Eng- 
land of  the  cruelties  to  which  they  were  subjected.     It 


*Froude,  ix.  335. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   AND    HIS   EXPLOITS  401 

is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  Hawkins  and  the  other  lead- 
ing corsairs  of  the  time  that  they  never  deserted  their 
comrades  when  in  trouble.  Their  wild  life,  and  wild 
enough  it  was,  never  dulled  the  deep  affection  for  men 
of  their  own  blood  which  has  always  characterized  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  In  the  frozen  seas  of  the  North,  in 
the  jungles  of  India,  or  in  the  deserts  of  Africa,  the 
Englishman  has  always  faced  death  with  unflinching 
courage  when  the  rescue  of  a  countryman  has  been  in- 
volved. Hawkins,  to  release  his  comrades,  ventured  into 
the  very  jaws  of  the  Inquisition.  Pretending  to  be  a 
traitor  to  Elizabeth,  and  armed  with  a  letter  from  Mary 
of  Scotland,  who  was  then  a  prisoner  of  her  royal  cous- 
in, he  went  to  Spain,  deceived  Philip  himself,  and  re- 
turned with  such  of  his  crew  as  were  still  alive.  The 
King  of  Spain  expected  them  to  be  his  allies,  but  they 
were  soon  at  sea  again  under  the  old  flag,  each  one  with 
his  tale  of  Spanish  cruelty  to  fire  the  hearts  of  his 
comrades,  and  to  nerve  himself  to  new  schemes  of  ven- 
geance. 

For  about  three  years  after  the  affair  of  the  Italian 
money,  Elizabeth  seemed  to  feel  some  alarm  for  fear 
that  she  had  gone  too  far ;  but  in  1572  she  took  part  in 
an  expedition  which  sailed  under  the  command  of  a  hero 
who  w^as  destined  to  a  fame  much  wider  than  that  of  the 
great  Hawkins  himself. 

Francis  Drake  had  accompanied  Hawkins  on  his  last 
ill-starred  voyage,  and  could  never  forget  the  sufferings 
of  his  companions  who  had  been  taken  by  the  Span- 
iards, nor  cease  to  dream  of  the  treasures  which  had  once 
been  within  his  grasp.  Sailing  from  Plymouth,  w^ith 
the  queen  as  one  of  his  partners,  he  spent  the  summer 
in  the  West  Indies,  murdering  Spaniards  and  plundering 
their  houses.  Then  crossing  to  the  mainland,  he  inter- 
L— 26 


402       TUB   PUEITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

cepted  the  treasure-train  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and 
after  securing  an  enormous  amount  of  gold  and  silver  set 
sail  for  England,  which  he  reached  in  safety,  capturing 
another  gold-ship  on  the  return  voyage.* 

This  expedition  proved  how  vulnerable  was  Spain  in 
her  transatlantic  possessions.  The  field  of  operations 
for  the  adventurers  of  England  was  expanding.  Drake 
was  soon  to  open  to  them  all  the  oceans  of  the  world. 
In  1577,  he  set  out  from  Plymouth  for  a  voyage  to  the 
Pacific,  whose  waters  he  had  looked  upon  when  he  vis- 
ited the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  He  now  sailed  with  a  fleet 
of  five  small  vessels,  the  queen  being  again  his  partner, 
and  the  Earl  of  Leicester  one  of  his  large  stockholders. 
His  commission  was  equivocal ;  Elizabeth,  as  usual,  in- 
tending to  repudiate  him  if  it  seemed  to  her  advantage. 
On  his  part,  however,  there  was  no  uncertainty  of  pur- 
pose. 

This  famous  voyage  lasted  for  three  years,  and  its 
story  reads  like  a  romance.  Creeping  down  the  coast 
of  South  America,  Drake  passed  through  the  Strait  of 
Magellan,  There  the  last  of  his  companions  deserted 
him,  and  he  found  himself  on  the  waters  of  the  broad 
Pacific  with  only  eighty  men  and  a  single  little  vessel 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons'  burden,  about  half  the 
size  of  one  of  our  fishing  schooners  which  sail  to  New- 
foundland from  the  ports  of  Maine.  Making  his  way 
northward,  he  plundered  the  Spanish  villages  on  the 
coast;  seized  great  heaps  of  silver  which  had  been 
brought  down  from  the  mines  of  Peru ;  captured  a  treas- 
ure-ship with  its  cargo  of  gold,  silver,  pearls,  emeralds, 
and  diamonds :  and,  almost  without  firing  a  shot  or  strik- 
ing a  blow,  loaded  down  his  vessel  with  a  cargo  such  as 

*  Froude,  xi.  31. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  DRAKE'S  PLUNDER-THE  PIRATE  KNIGHTED    403 

the  world  had  never  seen  before,  and  never  has  seen 
since  his  day.  Then,  turning  xyestward,  he  continued  his 
furrow  around  the  globe,  crossed  the  Pacific,  rounded 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and,  in  1580,  dropped  anchor 
in  Plymouth  with  his  precious  freight.* 

What  was  its  value  no  one  ever  knew.  The  Spanish 
ambassador  threatened  immediate  war  unless  it  was 
returned,  and  Elizabeth  made  a  show  of  having  it  in- 
ventoried and  safely  guarded.  But  the  ofiicers  who 
took  the  inventory  were  directed  not  to  be  too  partic- 
ular, and  not  to  interfere  with  Drake  if  he  Avished  to 
take  any  portion  for  himself.  In  the  queen's  council, 
opinion  was  divided  as  to  the  disposition  of  the  plunder. 
Some  were  in  favor  of  giving  it  up  to  Spain ;  others  be- 
lieved in  sending  it  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  or  to  the 
Huguenots  in  France.  Elizabeth  settled  the  controversy 
by  making  a  liberal  allowance  to  Drake,  giving  the 
shareholders  who  fitted  out  the  expedition  one  hundred 
per  cent,  on  their  investment,  and  keeping  the  remainder 
for  herself.f 

The  vessel  which  had  sailed  around  the  world  was 
taken  to  London  and  placed  on  exhibition. :{;  In  its 
cabin,  Elizabeth  dined  with  Drake,  and  took  the  occa- 
sion to  knight  him  for  his  exploits.  He,  in  return,  gave 
her  a  diamond  cross,  and  a  crown  set  with  enormous 
emeralds.  Most  of  her  courtiers  also  became  the  recip- 
ients of  his  bounty.  Three,  however — Sussex,  Walsing- 
ham,  and  Burghley — who  believed  in  war  and  not  in 


*  Magellan's  vessel,  with  fifteen  of  its  crew,  had  made  the  same  trip 
half  a  century  before. 

t  Froude,  xi.  428. 

X  Hentzner  saw  it  there  in  1598.  He  speaks  of  it  as  the  ship  of 
"  that  noble  pirate,  Francis  Drake." 


404       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

private  pillage,  declined  his  gifts,  the  latter  saying  that 
he  did  not  see  how  in  conscience  he  could  receive  pres- 
ents from  a  man  who  had  nothing  but  what  he  had 
made  by  piracy.* 

But  the  conscientious  scruples  of  Burghley  were  not 
shared  by  the  people  at  large.  To  them  Drake  was  a 
hero,  and  well  might  they  admire  his  character.  He  was 
far  from  being  a  vulgar  pirate,  like  some  of  his  prede- 
cessors, cruising  merely  for  plunder,  and  robbing  friend 
and  foe  alike.  He  was  a  crusader  of  the  modern  type, 
possessing  the  qualities  which  have  always  excited  the 
just  admiration  of  his  countrymen.  He  had  a  love  of 
adventure,  was  of  unflinching  courage,  had  unbounded 
confidence  in  himself,  and  an  unalterable  belief  that  no 
one  in  the  world  was  a  match  for  an  Englishman.  He 
was  also  a  religious  man,  as  religion  then  went  among 
the  majority  of  men  in  Europe.  On  his  famous  voyage 
around  the  world,  he  took  a  chaplain  with  him,  as  the 
Spaniards  took  a  priest,  who  regularly  administered  the 
communion  to  the  crew.  He  was  an  earnest  Protestant, 
at  least  from  a  civil  standpoint,  and  probably  thought 
that  by  plundering  the  papists  he  was  doing  good  ser- 
vice, not  only  to  the  State  but  to  the  Lord. 

The  voyages  of  Drake  gave  a  great  impetus  to  Eng- 
lish Protestantism.  More  than  ever  before,  the  ocean 
swarmed  with  the  corsairs,  who  were  willing  to  face  even 
the  Inquisition  in  their  search  for  Catholic  gold.  But  it 
was  not  merely  a  mercenary  spirit  which  in  the  end  ani- 
mated these  rovers  of  the  sea.  It  is,  of  course,  absurd  to 
invest  them  with  a  religious  character,  but  it  would  be 


*  Froude,  xi.  429.  It  must  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  all 
through  this  period  England  was  at  peace  with  Spain,  and  Elizabeth 
was  resolutely  opposed  to  open  war. 


GROWTH   OF   THE    SPIRIT    OF   PATRIOTISM  405 

equally  absurd  to  ignore  the  spirit  of  patriotism  which 
was  growing  more  intense  among  them  with  every  pass- 
ing year. 

Spain,  to  be  sure,  was  at  peace  with  England,  but  she 
was  gradually  coming  to  be  recognized  as  the  great  foe 
of  human  liberty.  On  the  other  hand,  although  Eliza- 
beth cared  nothing  for  principles  and  was  anxious  only 
to  save  herself,  the  people  at  large  knew  little  of  the 
vacillations,  the  inclinations  to  the  papacy,  the  breaches 
of  faith,  and  treachery  to  her  friends  which  the  state- 
papers  now  reveal,  and  which  were  the  chief  causes  of 
her  peril.  She  imposed  few  taxes,  she  was  popular  in 
her  manners,  and  she  gave  her  country  peace.  To  her 
people,  who  underneath  the  surface  had  noble  character- 
istics, she  represented  a  principle,  that  of  nationality; 
and,  as  a  Protestant  sovereign,  an  idea — that  of  hatred  of 
the  papists,  and  of  Spain,  their  leading  champion.  Ev- 
ery corsair  who  set  out  in  search  of  Spanish  plunder 
returned  more  of  an  Englishman  than  ever;  his  island 
home  was  dearer  to  him,  for  it  protected  him  from  all 
his  enemies ;  his  sovereign  he  worshipped,  for  she  was 
the  good  genius  of  his  fortunes.  Each  one,  also,  brought 
back  his  tale  of  the  crimes  against  humanity  perpetrated 
by  the  Inquisition.  These  actions,  so  far  as  English- 
men were  concerned,  might  be  justified  legally  as  fair 
reprisals,  but  such  a  consideration  would  have  no  effect 
upon  this  people.  Their  rulers  might  stretch  Jesuits 
upon  the  rack,  or  consign  heretic  Dutchmen  to  the 
flames,  but  it  was  an  inexpiable  offence  for  a  foreign 
power  thus  to  treat  an  Englishman.* 


*  A  notable,  but  by  no  means  an  exceptional,  illustration  of  this 
national  trait  is  found  in  Strype's  "  Annals  of  the  Reformation." 
This  industrious  writer,  who  made  his  compilations  in  the  early  part 


406       THE  PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMEIIICA 

Step  by  step  the  irrepressible  conflict  is  coming  on. 
Little  by  little  England  is  feeling  her  strength,  and  pre- 
paring for  the  grand  outburst  of  national  energy  which 
followed  the  annihilation  of  the  Spanish  Armada  and 


of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  a  High-churchman,  and  an  unwavering 
admirer  of  Elizabeth  and  her  ecclesiastical  policy.  He  describes,  with 
apparent  satisfaction,  the  burning  afthe  stake,  in  1575,  of  two  Ana- 
baptists from  Holland ;  men  who  made  no  disturbance,  but,  meeting 
quietly  for  private  worsliip,  were  arrested,  and,  on  being  questioned, 
avowed  opinions  which  the  Church  called  heretical.  He  also  tells 
with  approval  of  the  execution,  in  1580  and  1581,  of  a  number  of 
Jesuit  i^riests,  who,  before  trial,  were  subjected  to  torture,  their 
nails  torn  out,  and  their  arms  racked  into  helplessness,  all  for  preach- 
ing in  secret  the  doctrines  of  their  faith.  Neither  these  transac- 
tions, nor  the  subsequent  executions  of  scores  of  other  Catholics  and 
Separatists,  elicit  from  our  venerable  author  one  word  of  human 
pity ;  but  in  1581  an  English  Protestant  was  burned  at  the  stake  in 
Rome,  and  concerning  his  fate  we  find  the  following  language : 

"  But  there  happened  this  year  an  example  of  papal  persecution,  in 
Rome,  upon  an  Englishman,  which  exceeded  much  any  persecution 
complained  of  in  England."  The  victim  of  this  persecution  was  one 
Richard  Atkins,  of  whose  doings  Strype  himself  gives  this  account. 
Burning  with  religious  zeal,  he  left  his  own  country,  and  went  to 
Rome,  to  expose  the  wickedness  of  the  pope  and  the  idolatry  of  the 
people.  In  carrying  out  his  enterprise,  he  first  visited  the  English 
College  there,  rebuked  the  students  for  the  great  misorders  of  their 
lives,  called  the  mass  a  "  filthy  sacrament,"  and  denounced  the  pope 
as  the  Antichrist  who  was  "poisoning  the  whole  world  with  his 
abominable  blasphemies."  For  these  speeches  he  was  arrested,  but 
after  a  few  days'  confinement  was  set  at  liberty.  Next,  he  attacked  a 
priest  who  was  carrying  the  Host  through  the  streets,  and  attempted 
to  take  away  the  sacred  emblem.  This  oflence,  too,  was  overlooked. 
At  last,  he  went  to  St.  Peter's  during  mass,  pushed  his  way  to  tlie 
altar,  seized  the  chalice,  throwing  the  wine  upon  the  ground,  and 
struggled  with  the  priest  to  take  away  the  consecrated  wafer.  This 
last  exploit  led  to  his  martyrdom,  and  to  Strype's  denunciation  of 
"  papal  persecution."     Strype's  "  Annals,"  iii.  38. 


ENGLISH   PROTESTANTISM— INFLUENCES   AT   WORK  407 

gave  the  country  a  new  life.  The  exclusion  of  their 
wool  and  cloth  from  the  markets  of  the  IS^etherlands 
seemed  to  her  merchants  at  first  a  dreadful  calamity„ 
It  led,  however,  as  w^e  have  seen,  to  their  seeking  new 
markets  for  themselves,  and  thus,  with  an  expanding 
commerce,  they  learned  the  lesson  of  self-confidence, 
the  chief  requisite  of  success  in  any  calling.  Accompa- 
nying this  feeling  was  the  intense  national  and  Protes- 
tant spirit  which  was  every  day  becoming  more  aroused 
under  the  running  private  w^ar  with  Spain.  In  the  fact 
that  these  momentous  changes  were  brought  about 
largely  through  the  operations  of  the  corsairs,  who  rep- 
resented one  marked  phase  of  the  new^  national  energy, 
may  be  found  my  excuse  for  giving  so  much  space  to 
an  account  of  these  national  heroes. 

Still,  the  Protestantism  which  the  nation  was  acquir- 
ing in  this  manner  had  little  of  a  religious  character. 
It  did  well  enough  for  Elizabeth ;  it  would  have  suited 
all  her  requirements  that  a  subject  should  love  her,  hate 
the  pope,  and  plunder  the  Spaniards.  But  there  was 
another  spirit  abroad  in  the  land — a  spirit  w^hich  was  to 
make  England,  for  a  time,  a  Puritan  country ;  a  country 
of  correct  morals,  and  imbued  with  a  love  of  justice  and 
equal  rights  before  the  law.  To  be  sure,  this  condition 
was  not  to  continue  long,  but,  considering  what  w^e  have 
seen  in  the  preceding  pages,  the  wonder  is  that  it  ever 
came  about  at  all.  It  is  evident  that  the  influence  which 
could  work  such  a  revolution  must  have  been  a  very 
potent  one.  In  fact,  it  was  complex  in  its  nature,  but, 
like  the  influences  which  produced  the  former  waves  of 
progress,  mainly  traceable  to  a  foreign  origin.  Of  its 
nature  and  the  methods  of  its  operation  we  shall  see 
something  in  the  next  chapters. 


CHAPTER  Vm 

ENGLISH    PURITANISM 
THE    JESUITS   AND    THE    PUEITANS— 1558-1585 

"We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  pages  something  of 
the  rehgious  condition  of  England  during  tlie  first  part 
of  the  Elizabethan  age.  There  is  nothing  surprising  in 
the  picture,  Avhen  we  bear  in  mind  the  prior  history  of 
the  country,  and  the  form  which  the  Reformation  took 
on  among  its  people.  Upon  the  Continent  the  Refor- 
mation was  a  religious  movement ;  here  it  was  largely 
secular  and  political.  The  result,  at  first,  was  a  great 
breaking-down  of  religion  and  morality,  while  the  con- 
centration in  one  hand  of  the  civil  and  religious  power 
built  up  a  tyranny  which,  in  some  of  its  features,  seems 
at  the  present  day  well-nigh  Asiatic  in  its  disregard  of 
human  rights.*  Before  the  century  closed,  however, 
the  country  saw  a  change,  which  was  to  become  even 
more  marked  after  Elizabeth  had  passed  away.  This 
change  consisted  in  the  elevation  of  the  tone  of  morals 
among  certain  classes,  and  the  appearance  in  the  same 
quarter  of  a  deep  religious  feeling,  accompanied  by  a 
wide-spread  demand  for  some  measure  of  civil  liberty. 
Such  a  revolution  was  caused  little  by  anything  within 
the  nation,  much  less  by  anything  within  the  Established 
Church.  

*  Hume  likens  it  to  the  governments  of  Russia  and  Turkey  in  his 
time,  and  he  was  not  as  prejudiced  as  many  persons  think. 


RELIGIOUS   TORPOR   IN   ENGLAND— THE    CATHOLICS  409 

The  religious  system  which  the  English  Eeformers 
constructed  on  the  ruins  of  the  papacy  was  a  compro- 
mise, and,  like  all  compromises,  was  disliked  by  the 
earnest  men  of  either  party.  It  retained  a  ritual,  with 
most  of  the  prayers  and  many  of  the  forms  and  cere- 
monies of  the  old  religion,  while  its  doctrines  were  taken 
largely  from  the  theology  of  Calvin.  Such  an  estabhsh- 
ment,  presided  over  by  a  temporal  monarch  who  as- 
sumed almost  the  authority  of  a  pope,  would  have  been 
impossible  among  a  people  who  had  much  deep  relig- 
ious feeling.  But  the  English,  in  the  main,  had  none; 
and  hence  this  hybrid,  incongruous  system  might  have 
worked  well  enough  had  the  nation  been  left  to  itself, 
undisturbed  by  any  foreign  influence.  Such  an  isolation 
was,  however,  now  impossible.  Upon  the  Continent  the 
old  and  the  new  system  of  belief  were  fighting  out  a 
life-and-death  struggle.  Elizabeth  tried  to  keep  it  from 
her  doors;  but  every  day  an  expanding  commerce  nar- 
rowed the  channel  which  separated  England  from  the 
field  of  conflict,  and  thicker  and  faster  fell  the  sparks 
from  the  flames  lighted  by  the  warring  factions.  That 
some  of  them  should  take  effect  on  British  soil  was,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  inevitable. 

The  change  which  came  about  in  England,  lifting  it 
to  a  higher  plane,  was  due  mainly  to  the  conflict  be- 
tween two  forces  in  the  nation :  one,  a  newly  awakened 
Catholicism,  the  other  the  new-born  Puritanism.  Nei- 
ther was  native  to  the  soil ;  each  derived  its  power  from 
a  Continental  influence. 

How  true  this  was  as  to  the  Catholics  can  be  seen 
from  a  glance  at  their  historj'-  during  the  first  years  of 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  As  soon  as  she  was  fairly  seated 
on  the  throne,  she  required  all  the  priests  and  dignita- 
ries of  the  old  Church  to  conform  to  the  Protestant 


410       THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

formularies,  and  a  very  small  number  of  them  refused 
compliance.*  This  outward  conformity,  however,  was 
not  sufficient.  As  time  went  on,  more  and  more  strin- 
gent laws  were  passed  against  even  the  private  practice 
of  the  ancient  rites.  The  Romanists  were  found  mostly 
in  the  rural  districts  of  the  North  and  West,  the  least 
advanced  sections  of  the  kingdom,  and  there  the  old 
priests,  disguised  sometimes  so  as  to  resemble  Protestant 
preachers,  flitted  about  from  house  to  house,  or  found 
concealment  in  the  mansions  of  the  wealthy  squires  and 
nobles.  Persecution,  of  course,  only  increased  the  fer- 
vor of  those  who  entertained  sincere  convictions,  but 
these  were  few  in  number.  Some  passed  over  to  the 
Continent  and  took  up  arms  in  France  or  Spain.  Among 
those  who  remained  at  home,  religious  feeling  seemed 
almost  dying  out. 

In  1568,  Mary  Stuart  fled  to  England,  seeking  a  refuge 
from  her  insurgent  subjects.  She  found  a  prison-house, 
in  which  her  restless  spirit  was  to  chafe  for  nineteen 
years,  until  released  by  the  headsman's  axe.  As  a  Cath- 
olic and  the  next  heir  to  the  throne,  she  became  the 
centre,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  of  endless  plots 
against  the  government.  The  year  after  her  arrival, 
some  of  the  great  Catholic  earls  of  the  North  rose  in 
open  rebellion;  but  the  people,  on  whose  support  they 
counted,  refused  assistance,  and  the  leaders  took  the 
well-w^orn  path  to  the  Tower,  and  thence  to  the  place 
of  execution.  The  next  year,  the  pope  issued  his  bull 
of  excommunication  against  Elizabeth,  but  even  this  fell 
harmless.  In  Scotland  a  religious  war  was  waging ;  in 
Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  the  Netherlands,  the  Catholics 
were  aH  aflame  with  religious  zeal,  but  in  England  they 


*  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  120. 


CATHOLIC   EEFORMERS— THE    JESUITS  411 

seemed  sunk  in  a  listless  torpor.  At  last,  however,  a 
change  came  over  them ;  the  torpor  was  shaken  off,  a 
spiritual  fervor  took  its  place,  and  the  listless,  inoffensive 
papists  seemed  about  to  become  a  power  in  the  land. 
To  understand  the  influences  which  brought  about  this 
transformation,  we  must  leave  England  and  cast  our 
eyes  across  the  Channel. 

In  the  Protestant  view  of  the  period  covered  by  the 
Reformation,  we  are  sometimes  disposed,  while  consid- 
ering the  great  intellectual  awakening  which  brought 
the  Protestants  into  being,  to  overlook  its  effects  upon 
those  who  remained  true  to  Mother  Church.  It  should 
be  remembered,  however,  that  the  teachings  of  Luther 
and  Calvin  would  have  produced  slight  results  but  for 
the  general  spread  of  knowledge  by  which  they  were 
preceded,  and  that  the  same  cause  effected  a  revival  of 
spiritual  zeal  among  the  Pomanists.  The  world  was 
shaking  off  the  intellectual  sleep  of  a^s.  As  men  awoke, 
many  of  them  turned  to  religion,  and  such  men,  through 
the  influence  of  nature  or  environment,  were  divided 
into  Protestants  and  Catholics.  It  would  be  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  that  all  the  reformers  were  on  one 
side,  or  that  honesty  of  purpose  was  confined  to  one  re- 
ligious party.  All  over  Europe  were  scattered  earnest 
Catholics,  burning  with  enthusiasm  and  devoted  to  their 
Church,  but  fully  conscious  of  the  corruptions  which 
were  eating  out  its  heart. 

Shortly  after  Luther  opened  his  crusade  against  the 
papacy,  a  society  was  formed  which  gave  to  these  spir- 
its a  rally ing-point  within  their  Church,  and  an  organ- 
ization through  which  to  work.  It  was  the  Order  of  the 
Jesuits  ;  its  founder  was  Ignatius  Loyola.  Loyola  was 
a  Spanish  knight,  brought  up  at  the  court  of  Ferdinand, 
and  distinguished  for  his  gallantry  among  a  race  of  sol- 


412       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

diers.  la  1521,  when  thirty  years  of  age,  he  was  se- 
verely wounded  at  the  siege  of  Pampeluna.  A  long  ill- 
ness followed,  which  left  him  lamed  for  life.  During 
his  tedious  confinement  he  took  up,  to  while  away  the 
time,  a  life  of  the  Saviour,  and  a  volume  containing  the 
lives  of  the  saints.  The  latter  inflamed  an  ardent  imag- 
ination, fed  before  on  tales  of  chivalry  alone.  What 
others  had  done,  as  was  there  recorded,  he  thought  that 
he  could  do  himself,  and  so  determined  to  live  a  life  of 
abstinence,  penitence,  and  holiness.  In  a  vision  the  Vir- 
gin appeared  before  him,  with  the  holy  infant  in  her 
arms,  and  blessed  his  resolution.  Upon  emerging  from 
the  sick-room,  he  sold  his  little  property,  gave  the  pro- 
ceeds to  the  Church,  and  set  out  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem. Eeturning  in  safety,  having  begged  his  way  and 
suffered  untold  hardships,  he  entered  upon  a  course  of 
study.  Practising  the  most  rigorous  austerities,  and  vis- 
ited in  dreams  at  times  by  angels  and  then  by  demons, 
he  passed  several  years  in  various  universities,  finally 
drifting  to  Paris.  There  he  found  two  men  of  great  in- 
tellectual power  who  shared  his  mystic  belief  and  be- 
came his  life  associates — Peter  Faber,  a  Savoyard,  and  a 
Spaniard,  Francisco  Xavier.  They  formed  a  little  band, 
sworn  to  chastity  and  poverty,  and  devoted  to  the  con- 
version of  sinners  at  home  and  the  heathen  abroad.  Join- 
ing other  companions  with  them,  in  1537  they  went  to 
Pome,  calling  themselves  the  Company  of  Jesus.  In 
151:0,  they  were  formally  organized,  adding  to  their  pre- 
vious vows  one  of  unquestioning  obedience  to  their  gen- 
eral, whom  they  elected  for  life. 

Thus  established,  upon  principles  which  attracted  the 
fervent  sympathy  of  a  newly  awakened  Catholic  world, 
this  order  placed  itself  at  the  absolute  disposal  of  the 
pope.     In  the  contest  with  the  reformers  outside  the 


MISSIONARY   WORK   OF   THE   JESUITS  413 

Church,  it  became  the  chief  support  of  the  papacy,  and 
to  its  efforts,  more  than  to  any  other  cause,  was  clue  the 
check  which  was  placed  upon  the  progress  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. How  well  the  Jesuits,  as  they  were  soon 
called  by  others,  met  the  wants  and  the  spirit  of  the  age 
in  CathoUc  countries  is  shown  by  the  rapidity  with 
which  they  spread  through  Europe,  and  the  vast  power 
which  they  soon  acquired.  What  earnest  soul,  believing 
in  the  doctrines  of  Catholicism,  could  fail  to  be  moved 
by  the  self-abnegation  and  the  heroism  which  these  men 
displayed  ?  At  the  outset  they  appealed  simply  to  the 
principle  of  duty,  the  great  word  of  power  in  every  lan- 
guage. Loyola,  the  first  general  of  the  order,  performed 
the  most  menial  services  in  his  church  at  Rome,  taught 
classes  of  little  children,  and  collected  alms  for  the  Jews 
and  for  abandoned  women,  in  the  work  of  whose  refor- 
mation he  labored  with  unflagging  zeal  until  his  death 
from  pure  exhaustion. 

Their  missionaries  sought  out  the  heathen  in  every 
land.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  nothing  compa- 
rable with  their  heroic  labors  in  this  direction.  At  the 
first  organization  of  the  society  the  Avork  began.  In 
154:1,  Xavier  went  to  the  Portuguese  East  Indies.  At 
the  time  of  his  death,  ten  years  later,  he  and  his  associ- 
ates could  number  the  converts  to  their  faith  by  the  tens 
of  thousands.  They  carried  the  crucifix  through  India, 
China,  the  isles  of  the  Pacific,  and  even  Africa,  two 
centuries  before  the  Protestants  began  their  work,  ex- 
cept by  sending  out  a  straggling  preacher  here  and 
there.  In  the  Is'ew  World,  their  efforts  were  equally 
extensive.  Everywhere  they  followed  in  the  wake  of 
the  ferocious  Spaniards,  largely  mitigating  the  horrors 
of  their  conquests.  In  Paraguay,  they  established  al- 
most a  paradise  on  earth.     Even  among  the  savage 


414       THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

tribes  of  Canada  their  work  of  civilization  was  not  un- 
important."^ 

Yery  different  from  the  life  of  many  a  modern  mis- 
sionary was  that  of  these  pioneers  in  the  heathen  field. 
JSTothing  since  the  early  days  of  Christianity  equals  the 
hardships  which  they  suffered,  the  perils  which  they 
faced.  Men  of  high  birth  and  delicate  nurture  plunged 
into  the  wilderness,  and  passed  years  without  even  the 
sight  of  any  friendly  faces,  except  those  of  the  dusky 
savages  about  them,  and  with  no  future  except  the  cer- 
tainty of  martyrdom.  The  posts  of  greatest  danger, 
where  they  could  have  a  choice,  were  the  ones  to  which 
they  flocked.  Thus,  when  the  news  reached  Europe 
that  a  member  of  their  order  had,  in  Japan,  denied  the 
faith — and  this  was  almost  the  only  instance  in  their 
history — volunteers  sprang  up  from  every  quarter  pray- 
ing for  permission  to  go  there  and  vindicate  the  truth. 
The  prayers  of  many  were  granted,  and  all  of  these 
volunteers  laid  down  their  lives  amid  horrible  tortures; 
with  them  the  recusant  himself,  who,  repenting  of  his 
weakness,  went  before  the  magistrates  and  acknowl- 
edged that  he  also  was  a  Christian.f 

In  Europe  the  Jesuits  did  a  work  much  greater  than 
that  accomplished  in  foreign  lands.  To  their  efforts 
was  largely  due  the  purification  of  the  Romish  Church 
from  the  gross  abuses  which  had  aroused  the  indigna- 


*  See  Parkman's  "  Jesuits  in  North  America." 

t  By  way  of  contrast,  it  may  here  be  noted  that  two  hundred 
years  after  the  foundation  of  the  Jesuit  missions  in  Asia,  the  English 
East  India  Company  refused,  "  for  weighty  and  substantial  reasons," 
to  permit  the  Gospel  to  be  preached  in  its  provinces,  even  by  Prot- 
estant missionaries.  Mackenzie's  "Nineteenth  Century,"  book  ii. 
chap.  ix. 


THE  EDUCATORS  AND  CONFESSORS  OF  CATHOLIC  EUROPE  415 

tion  of  mankind.  They  took  no  money  for  a  mass; 
they  refused  to  confess  a  woman  unless  in  the  presence 
of  a  brother  priest ;  they  practised  and  enforced  upon 
their  pupils  strict  chastity  of  hfe ;  and  they  never  sacri- 
ficed the  interests  of  their  order  to  any  consideration  of 
selfish  ease.  Unlike  the  members  of  the  old  monastic 
organizations,  they  wore  no  peculiar  garb,  but  dressed 
like  the  ordinary  clergy,  or,  when  deemed  advisable, 
even  adopted  the  costume  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lived.  'No  time  was  spent  by  them  in  idle  ceremonies, 
but  they  devoted  themselves  to  an  active  life  as  preach- 
ers, teachers,  and  confessors.  Recognizing  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  instead  of  disparaging  science  they  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  its  development.  They  cultivated  literature, 
and  won  high  renown  as  scholars — oratory,  and  became 
the  first  preachers  in  the  Church. 

But  their  greatest  pre-eminence  was  attained  in  the 
]3rovince  of  education.  Knowing  that  as  the  twig  is 
bent  the  tree  will  be  inclined,  they  devoted  their  chief 
energies  to  the  training  of  the  young.  All  over  Catho- 
lic Europe  they  established  schools,  in  which  the  instruc- 
tion was  entirely  free.  Reversing  the  old  traditions  un- 
der which  teachers  and  scholars  were  natural  enemies, 
they  won  the  love  and  confidence  of  their  pupils,  bind- 
ing them  by  chains  of  affection  which  no  time  could 
weaken.  Preparatory  schools  took  up  children  in  their 
infancy,  and  thence  they  were  transferred  to  colleges 
which  turned  them  out  as  finished  scholars,  in  everything 
except  the  power  of  thinking  for  themselves  in  matters 
of  religion.  The  system  which  they  established  was  a 
vast  machine  for  enrolling  and  disciplining  an  army  of 
civilians,  sworn  to  obey  the  orders  of  their  leader,  and 
that  leader  they  looked  up  to  as  God's  representative 
on  earth. 


416       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

"While  thus  training  the  rising  generation,  they  did 
not,  however,  neglect  those  who  had  already  reached  ma- 
turity. Here  their  chief  influence  was  exerted  through 
the  confessional.  Rigid  in  their  own  lives,  they  gained 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  sincere.  These  formed 
their  early  followers.  But  as  time  rolled  on,  after  the 
death  of  Loyola,  it  was  charged,  and  perhaps  not  un- 
justly, that  for  others  they  made  religion  comfortable^ 
In  a  sense  very  different  from  that  intended  by  the  great 
apostle,  they  became  all  things  to  all  men ;  not  to  save 
the  men,  but  to  build  up  the  power  of  their  order.  To 
their  own  members,  however,  no  relaxation  of  discipline 
was  shown,  and  no  body  of  soldiers,  working  together 
or  as  single  scouts,  ever  showed  more  clearly  what  dis- 
cipline and  intensity  of  purpose  can  accomplish.  When 
they  were  first  organized  Loyola  had  nine  companions; 
in  sixteen  years  the  nine  had  grown  to  a  thousand ;  by 
the  end  of  the  century  they  numbered  over  ten  times  as 
many.  They  then  had  obtained  the  chief  direction  of 
the  education  of  youth  in  every  Catholic  country  of  Eu- 
rope. They  had  become  the  confessors  of  almost  all  its 
monarchs,  and  of  almost  every  person  eminent  for  rank 
or  power,  thus  holding  in  their  keeping  the  secrets  of 
governments  and  of  individuals  without  number.'^ 

Such  was  the  all-powerful  organization  which  sprang 
up  to  fight  the  battles  of  Catholicism  against  the  Refor- 
mation.    In  after-years  it  became  one  of  the  curses  of 


*  Robertson's  "  Cliarles  V."  Bacon,  who  knew  of  what  he  spoke, 
pays  the  Jesuits  the  liigh  tribute  of  having  "  enterprised  to  reform 
the  discipline  and  manners  of  the  Church  of  Rome,"  and,  with  Luther 
and  the  divines  of  the  Protestant  Church,  "  awaked  to  their  great 
honor  and  succour  all  human  learning." — Bacon's  "  Filum  Laby- 
rinthi." 


THE   JESUITS   SUSTAIN   THE   PAPAL   AUTHORITY  417 

the  world,  and  among  Protestants  the  name  Jesuit  is 
often  synonymous  with  the  atrocious  doctrine  that  the 
end  justifies  the  means.  There  is  no  danger  that  the 
crimes  or  the  pernicious  influence  exerted  by  some  of 
the  members  of  this  order  will  ever  be  overlooked. 
Still,  it  is  not  consistent  with  historic  truth,  while  paint- 
ing their  dark  side  to  conceal  their  virtues,  or  to  deny 
the  great  services  which  they  have  rendered  to  human- 
ity. Too  much  of  this  has  been  done  in  the  heat  of 
controversy,  while  the  opposite  rule  has  been  applied 
to  the  Protestant  reformers,  and  especially  to  our  own 
ancestors,  English  and  American,  This  mode  of  deal- 
ing with  the  characters  of  the  dead  is  sometimes,  ap- 
parently, considered  to  be  in  the  interest  of  patriotism  or 
religion.  It  is  very  difficult,  however,  to  reconcile  it  with 
morality,  except  by  adopting  the  principle  imputed  to 
the  Jesuits,  which  mankind  unite  in  holding  up  to  ex- 
ecration. One  thing  is  very  certain,  no  one  can  under- 
stand the  religious  history  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in 
which  the  Company  of  Jesus  came  into  existence,  who 
fails  to  recognize  the  honesty  and  devotion  to  principle 
which  actuated  the  great  majority  of  its  members. 

When  the  order  arose,  the  papacy  was  confronted  by 
enemies  from  within  as  well  as  from  without.  Protes- 
tantism was  sweeping  over  Europe  and  carrying  every- 
thing before  it.  The  Jesuits,  by  proclaiming  the  prin- 
ciple of  reform  within  the  Church,  stayed  its  tide  and 
confined  it  within  its  present  narrow  limits.  But  they 
did  much  more  than  this  for  the  pope  himself.  Many 
of  the  Catholic  rulers  and  a  number  of  the  bishops  were 
disposed  to  dispute  the  authority  of  the  head  of  the 
Church.  Every  one  knows  how  readily  the  people  of 
England  accepted  their  king  in  place  of  the  pope  of 
Rome,  and  the  feeling  which  led  to  this  action  was  not 
I.— 27 


418        TUE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

unknown  in  other  lands.  A  number  of  the  French  and 
Spanish  prelates  asserted  that  an  oecumenical  council 
could  control  the  holy  see,  and  claimed  that  they  held 
a  commission  from  Heaven,  independent  of  the  pope. 
At  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  settled  some  of  these 
questions,  the  representative  of  the  Jesuits,  speaking  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  fraternity,  proclaimed  that  the 
government  of  the  faithful  had  been  committed  by 
Christ  to  the  pope  alone ;  that  in  him  all  sacerdotal  au- 
thority was  concentrated ;  and  that  through  him  only 
priests  and  bishops  derived  their  divine  authority.*  It 
was  largely  owing  to  the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  that  a 
formal  decree  of  this  famous  Council  established  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  pope  as  an  article  of  Catholic  faith, 
leaving  the  question  of  his  infallibility  in  matters  of 
doctrine  to  be  settled  by  future  generations. 

Thus  the  Catholic  Church  stood  fully  committed  to 
the  theory  of  the  papal  jurisdiction,  and,  abandoning 
the  defensive,  entered  upon  an  aggressive  policy.  How 
it  crushed  out  heresy  in  Italy  and  Spain,  how  it  curbed 
the  Keformation  in  Germany,  and  throttled  it  in  France, 
are  familiar  stories.  How  the  Jesuits  carried  their  mis- 
sionary work  to  Asia,  Africa,  and  tlie  New  "World,  we 
have  already  noticed.  "We  have  also  seen  something  of 
the  death-struggle  going  on  in  the  ITetherlands.  In  the 
crusade  which  the  Church  was  carrying  on,  to  win  back 
the  recusants  and  to  gain  new  converts,  England  came 
last.  It  had  been  purely  Catholic  until  the  da3^s  of 
Henry  the  Kef ormer ;  it  had  been  again  nominally  Cath- 
olic for  a  brief  period  under  Queen  Mary;  it  was  now 
nominally  Protestant  under  Queen  Elizabeth;  in  fact, 
it  was  in  some  respects  almost  a  pure  missionary  field. 


*  Macaulay's  "  England,"  ii.  54,  and  authorities  cited. 


TRAINING    CATHOLIC   MISSIONARIES   FOR   ENGLAND  419 

This  the  papal  authorities  recognized  after  a  few  years' 
experience,  and  they  set  about  its  cultivation  with  sys- 
tem and  deliberation. 

The  great  obstacle  in  England  to  a  religious  awaken- 
ing of  any  kind  lay  in  the  general  ignorance  of  the 
people,  including  the  clergy.  The  priests  of  the  old 
Church  who  remained  at  home  had  little  education,  and 
those  of  the  new  establishment  were  mostly  in  the  same 
condition.  The  first  thing,  therefore,  to  be  done  by  the 
Catholics,  if  they  wished  to  gain  the  advantage  of  their 
adversaries,  was  to  educate  preachers  who  would  ex- 
pound anew  to  these  islanders  the  doctrines  which. their 
fathers  had  accepted  without  question.  This  work  was 
begun  in  1568  by  the  establishment  at  Douay,  now  a 
city  of  France,  of  a  college  for  the  education  of  Eng- 
lish Catholics.  It  was  founded  under  the  auspices  of 
Philip  IL,  and  was  conducted  by  a  number  of  profess- 
ors from  Oxford,  who  had  taught  in  that  university 
during  the  reign  of  Mary,  but  who  had  fled  to  the  Con- 
tinent to  avoid  the  persecution  of  Elizabeth.  During 
the  rule  of  Eequesens  in  the  Low  Countries  it  was  re- 
moved to  Eheims,  and  in  1579  it  was  supplemented 
by  another  college,  founded  at  Eome  by  Pope  Greg- 
ory XIII.  The  pupils  instructed  at  these  institutions, 
which  were  wholly  free  both  as  to  board  and  educa- 
tion, stood  pledged  to  return  to  England  and  preach 
the  doctrines  of  the  old  religion. 

The  enterprise  flourished  from  the  outset.  Three 
years  after  its  opening,  the  college  at  Douay  contained 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  Three  years  later,  in 
15Y4,  these  missionaries  began  crossing  the  Channel  to 
revive  the  drooping  faith  of  their  compatriots.  In  four 
years  more,  the  Spanish  minister  at  London  was  able 
to  write  to  Philip  that  there  were  a  hundred  of  these 


420       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

young  priests  disguised  as  laymen,  doing  missionary 
work  in  England.  Their  success  was  marked  and  im- 
mediate. The  Catholic  gentry,  inspired  by  their  fer- 
vor, began  to  pluck  up  courage ;  they  refused  to  attend 
the  Anglican  service,  as  required  by  law,  and  some  open- 
ly avowed  their  ancient  faith.  The  government  soon 
became  alarmed.  In  15Y8  Parliament  was  convened, 
and  passed  a  law  making  the  landing  of  these  semi- 
nary priests,  or  the  harboring  of  them,  treason,  and  in 
N'ovember  of  the  same  year  one  of  their  number,  Cuth- 
bert  Mayne,  was  tried  and  executed. 

Still,  these  young  men,  although  full  of  zeal  and  burn- 
ing with  enthusiasm,  formed  but  a  skirmish  line;  be- 
hind them  stood  a  body  of  trained  warriors,  anxious  to 
battle,  and,  if  need  be,  die,  for  their  religion.  The  lat- 
ter belonged  to  the  Company  of  Jesus,  which  had  taken 
into  its  ranks  the  ablest  and  most  promising  of  the  Eng- 
lish refugees.  Chief  among  them  were  Edmund  Cam- 
pian  and  Robert  Parsons,  both  of  whom  had  been  fel- 
lows of  Oxford.  Campian,  who  was  born  in  1540,  was 
the  more  brilliant  of  the  two.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
he  had  delivered  an  oration  at  Amy  Eobsart's  funeral, 
at  twenty-six  he  had  gained  great  favor  in  the  eyes  of 
Elizabeth  by  the  skill  with  which  he  had  disputed  be- 
fore her  when  she  visited  the  university.  The  next  year, 
although  a  Catholic  at  heart,  he  was  ordained  a  deacon 
in  the  English  Church,  but  this  step  was  followed  by  deep 
spiritual  anguish.  He  left  Oxford,  lived  for  a  time  in 
Ireland,  writing  a,n  interesting  sketch  of  the  condition  of 
that  country,  and  finally  passed  over  to  the  Continent  and 
settled  in  the  university  at  Rheims.  There  he  was  rec- 
ognized as  an  eloquent  preacher  and  learned  theologian. 
Parsons,  some  five  years  younger,  was  less  of  a  preacher, 
but  cool,  clear-headed,  and  sagacious  as  a  leader. 


THE  JESUIT   MISSION    TO   ENGLAND  421 

"When,  in  1580,  the  pope  decided  to  send  a  band  of 
Jesuits  to  England  to  complete  the  work  of  re-establish- 
ing the  Romish  Church,  Parsons  and  Campian  were  se- 
lected to  head  the  mission.  Proceeding  to  Rome,  they 
received  the  papal  blessing,  and  thence  set  out  with 
seven  companions,  Oxford  graduates  and  Jesuits  like 
themselves,  to  encounter  their  expected  martyrdom. 
Singly  and  in  disguise  they  crossed  the  Channel,  meet- 
ino-  with  a  welcome  which  must  have  raised  their  wild- 
est  hopes.  Campian  had  been  instructed  to  abstain  en- 
tirely from  politics,  and  devote  himself  solely  to  the 
work  of  conversion.  He  went  at  once  to  London,  then 
the  very  stronghold  of  English  Protestantism,  and  di- 
rectly after  his  arrival  preached  to  a  vast  audience  in  a 
hall  hired  for  him  in  the  middle  of  the  city.  Warned 
of  his  intended  arrest,  he  then  fled  into  the  country, 
and  his  companions  dispersed  to  carry  their  teachings 
into  every  county  of  the  kingdom.  To  them  the  field 
seemed  white  for  the  harvest.  Young  men  flocked  to 
them  with  all  the  fervor  of  youth,  the  old  came  for- 
ward offering  to  lay  down  the  remnant  of  their  lives 
for  the  holy  cause.  The  ignorance  and  looseness  of 
living  among  the  ministers  of  the  Established  Church 
excited  their  just  indignation,  while  they  were  cheered 
and  encouraged  by  hearing  that  the  honesty  of  a  Catho- 
lic had  passed  into  a  proverb.*     Within  a  few  months 


*  Campian's  letter  to  the  general  of  the  Jesuits.  Froude,  xi.  346. 
The  Church  of  Rome,  thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits,  had  at  this 
time  been  largely  purged  of  tlie  scandals  which  had  brought  about 
the  Reformation.  The  tables  were  now  turned,  in  England  at  least, 
and  the  Catholics  could  retort  on  the  Protestants  much  of  what  had 
been  denounced  in  them  half  a  century  before.  Hallam,  writing  of 
this  period,  says :  "  After  the  Council  of  Trent  had  effected  such 
considerable  reforms  in  the  Catholic  discipline,  it  seemed  a  sort  of 


422       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

after  their  arrival,  Father  Allen,  the  head  of  the  college 
at  Rheims,  triumphantly  announced  that  there  were 
twenty  thousand  more  Catholics  in  England  than  a 
year  before. 

This  exultation  was,  however,  of  short  life.  The 
Jesuits  landed  on  the  English  shores  in  June,  1580c 
By  December,  Walsingham,  Elizabeth's  great  secretary, 
whose  spies  were  everywhere,  had  most  of  the  original 
party  under  lock  and  key.  Then  followed  the  rack  and 
the  headsman's  axe.  Parsons  escaped  to  the  Continent, 
and  Campian  eluded  arrest  for  six  months  more ;  but  he, 
too,  was  taken  the  next  July,  and,  in  December,  after 
bearing  the  extremity  of  torture,  met  the  death  of  a 
martyr  with  the  constancy  which  became  a  member  of 
his  order. 

But  this  did  not  end  the  movement.  The  pope  had 
shown  sagacity  in  sending  to  England  as  missionaries 
only  native-born  Englishmen,  and  those  mostly  in  the 
flush  of  manhood.  Their  fervor  was  infectious,  for  no 
one  could  doubt  the  sincerity  of  convictions  which  they 
were  at  all  times  ready  to  seal  with  their  blood,  and 
here,  as  elsewhere,  extreme  persecution  only  bred  new 
converts.  After  the  death  of  Campian,  Jesuits  and 
seminary  priests  flocked  in  by  tens  and  twenties,  so 
that  in  three  years,  as  it  was  reported,  there  were  five 
hundred  in  the  kingdom.^  Unquestionably  a  consider- 
able number  of  the  people  loved  the  old  Church,  with 
its  gorgeous  ceremonial  appealing  directly  to  the  senses, 
and  its  articles  of  faith  hallowed  by  the  traditions  of 


reproach  to  the  Protestant  Cliurch  of  England  that  she  retained  all 
the  dispensations,  the  exemptions,  the  pluralities,  which  had  been 
deemed  the  peculiar  corruptions  of  the  worst  times  of  popery." 
— "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  194.  *  Froude,  xi.  648. 


ITS   EAELY   SUCCESS— THE   PEOPLE    OPEN   TO   CONVICTION    423 

centuries ;  while  the  great  majority  were  indifferent, 
and  so  open  to  conviction.*  Men  in  dweUing  upon  the 
past  are  inclined  to  retain  only  their  pleasurable  recol- 
lections. When  these  young  priests,  themselves  pure 
of  life  and  devoted  wholly  to  the  Church,  opened  their 
crusade,  the  abuses  of  the  former  system  were  largely 
forgotten,  while  its  beauties  and  benefactions  were  well 
remembered. 

Taking  all  the  conditions  together,  there  is  noth- 
ing strange  about  the  early  successes  of  the  Jesuits  in 
their  effort  to  bring  England  back  to  the  ancient  faith, 
or  in  the  fact  that  they  fully  believed  in  the  ultimate 


*  The  question  of  the  proportion  of  Catholics  to  Protestants  in 
England  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  is  one  as  to  which  author- 
ities differ  -widely,  and  which,  from  its  nature,  never  can  be  de- 
termined. Froude  thinks  that  the  Catholics  were  in  a  very  large 
majority;  on  the  other  hand,  Hallam  estimates  the  Protestants  to 
have  made  up  two  thirds  of  the  nation,  while  Lingard  is  of  opinion 
that  in  the  middle  of  the  reign  the  two  parties  were  about  equally 
divided.  Such  estimates,  founded  merely  on  the  opinions  of  mod- 
ern writers  as  to  the  general  predispositions  of  the  people,  are  of 
very  little  significance.  As  Macaulay  has  well  said,  the  important 
question  is,  how  many  of  the  nation  had  made  up  their  minds  on 
either  side  and  were  willing  to  run  any  risks  for  their  opinions  ?  The 
history  of  the  times  shows  conclusively  that  these  were  very  few. 
Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  who  was  papal  nuncio  at  Brussels  from  1607 
to  1G16,  estimated  the  number  of  earnest  Catholics  in  England 
during  that  period  at  about  one  thirtieth  of  the  nation.  The  people 
who  would  without  scruple  become  Catholic  if  the  Catholic  religion 
were  established,  he  estimated  at  four  fifths  of  the  nation.  With 
this  estimate  Macaulay  concurs,  and  he  expresses  the  opinion  that 
at  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  not  one  twentieth  of  the  people  had 
any  earnest  convictions  in  either  direction.  Essay  on  Nares's  "Me- 
moirs of  Burleigh."  The  great  problem  of  the  time,  therefore,  was  the 
determination  of  the  question  which  party  should  develop  and  in- 
crease so  as  to  control  the  State. 


424       THE    PUEITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

triumph  of  their  cause.  But  there  were  obstacles  in 
their  path  which  proved  insuperable. 

In  the  first  place,  the  religious  question  could  not  be 
separated  from  the  political  one.  Campian  and  his  as- 
sociates might  preach  only  the  doctrines  of  a  Church, 
which,  freed  from  its  abuses,  appealed  to  some  of  the 
noblest  elements  in  human  nature.  But  back  of  them 
stood  a  power  to  which  they  had  sworn  unquestioning 
obedience — a  power  that  claimed  the  right  of  deposing 
monarchs,  and  was  now  coming  to  be  recognized  as 
the  foe  of  the  national  existence.  Most  of  her  troubles 
Elizabeth  had  brought  upon  herself,  but  they  were  no 
less  real  on  that  account.  Already  she  had  been  excom- 
municated by  the  pope.  Across  the  Channe],  the  Guises 
were  plotting  for  the  release  of  Mary  Stuart,  and  Philip 
of  Spain  was  being  goaded  into  action  by  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  British  pirates.  What  was  going  on  in  Ire- 
land and  Scotland,  where  the  pope  was  also  at  work, 
will  be  shown  in  a  later  chapter.  When  the  peaceful 
missionaries  had  prepared  the  way,  a  foreign  invasion 
would  make  short  work  of  English  nationality. 

All  this  is  apparent  enough  to  the  modern  historian, 
as  it  was  to  the  English  statesmen  of  the  time,  who  set 
out  with  ruthless  ferocity  to  crush  the  Catholic  revival. 
But  the  love  of  nationality,  on  which  they  relied,  would 
have  availed  little  against  religious  zeal  had  there  not 
been  another  party  in  the  State,  made  up  of  men  as  ear- 
nest, as  devoted,  and  as  zealous  as  the  Catholics  them- 
selves. These  were  the  Puritans.  To  Elizabeth  they  were 
much  more  obnoxious  than  the  papists  ever  were,  and  yet 
but  for  them  she  never  would  have  died  peacefully  upon 
the  throne.  It  was  largely  through  their  labors  that  her 
ministers  were  enabled  to  stay  the  tide  of  the  returning 
Catholicism  which  threatened  to  ingulf  the  land.   It  was 


THE  E:SiGLISH   PURITANS— THEIR    PLACE   IN   HISTORY  425 

with  their  development  that  England  was  again  brought 
into  close  relations  with  the  civilization  of  the  Old  World, 
imbibing  new  ideas  of  civil  liberty,  and  receiving  an  im- 
pulse which  has  carried  her  to  the  forefront  among  na- 
tions. Later  on,  they  founded  New  England,  giving  an 
impress  to  the  character  of  untold  millions  across  the 
ocean.  Thus  affecting  two  continents,  the  Puritans  of 
England  have  played  a  part  in  the  world's  history  which 
makes  the  subject  of  their  origin  and  growth  one  of  un- 
failing interest. 

From  the  death  of  Cromwell  until  within  a  compara- 
tively recent  time,  it  was  the  fashion  among  British 
writers  to  ridicule  the  English  Puritans,  just  as  it  has 
been  the  fashion  to  ridicule  the  Hollanders.  The  Cava- 
liers, who  went  down  before  them  in  battle,  and  who 
saw  the  Commonwealth  raise  England  to  a  leading  place 
in  European  politics,  hated,  but  had  an  intense  respect 
for,  Cromwell  and  his  Ironsides.  It  was  not  until  after 
the  Eestoration,  when  the  Stuarts  had  bemired  the  fame 
and  honor  of  England,  that  the  great  virtues  of  the  Puri- 
tans seemed  to  be  forgotten,  and  men  thought  only  of 
their  faults  and  of  those  external  peculiarities  which  are 
so  easily  caricatured  and  satirized.*  The  prejudice 
against  them  after  the  Restoration  was  not  universal, 
however,  for,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Hollanders,  men  were 
always  found  to  do  them  honor.     IN'otable  among  these 


*  TheEuglish  Puritans  antedated  Shakespeare,  and  during  his  life 
played  an  important  part  in  politics ;  yet  the  great  dramatist,  unlike 
some  of  his  petty  followers,  never  regarded  them  as  objects  of  ridi- 
cule. We  find  in  his  pages  almost  every  type  of  knave  and  bufibon, 
but  no  snivelling,  canting,  Puritanical  hypocrite  or  rogue,  such  as 
more  modern  writers  have  depicted.  In  fact,  although  in  common 
use,  the  word  Puritan  occurs  but  a  very  few  times  in  Shakespeare's 
plays,  and  then  scarcely  in  an  offensive  sense. 


426        THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

men  was  Hume,  the  apologist  of  the  Stuarts  and  the 
champion  of  the  Tory  party. 

Speaking  of  the  arbitrary  nature  of  Elizabeth's  govern- 
ment, and  of  the  fact  that  her  most  violent  assaults  on 
the  freedom  of  the  people  attracted  not  the  least  atten- 
tion from  contemporaneous  writers,  Hume  remarks :  "So 
absolute,  indeed,  was  the  authority  of  the  crown  that 
the  precious  spark  of  libert}'-  had  been  kindled  and  was 
preserved  by  the  Puritans  alone  ;  and  it  was  to  this  sect, 
whose  principles  appear  so  frivolous  and  habits  so  ridic- 
ulous, that  the  English  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their 
Constitution."  *  Again,  discussing  the  same  question 
in  another  place,  he  says :  "  It  was  only  during  the 
next  generation  that  the  noble  principles  of  liberty  took 
root,  and,  spreading  themselves  under  the  shelter  of  Pu- 
ritanical absurdities,  became  fashionable  among  the  peo- 
ple." f 

Such  ideas  were  not  fashionable  in  England  when 
Hume's  history  was  written.  As  he  relates  in  his  auto- 
biography, he  "  was  assailed  by  one  cry  of  reproach,  dis- 
approbation, and  even  detestation,"  from  every  side  and 
from  every  party.  The  Tories  were  indignant  that  any 
credit  should  be  given  to  the  Puritans,  and  the  Whigs 
were  no  less  indignant  at  the  suggestion  that  English 
liberty  began  w^ith  the  growth  of  Puritanism ;  for  they 
had  always  claimed  that  the  Stuarts  had  attempted 
to  deprive  the  people  of  long- settled,  well-established 
rights.:): 

Hallam,  in  his  "  Constitutional   History,"  questions 


*  "  History  of  Englaud,"  chap.  xl.      t  Idem,  Appendix,  vol.  iii. 

J  How  the  High  -  clmrclimen  hated  the  Puritans  is  shown  in  al- 
most every  page  of  Strype's  "  Annals,"  written  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 


DESPOTIC    NATURE    OF    ELIZABETH'S   RULE  427 

some  of  the  conclusions  of  Hume,  and  takes  that  author 
severely  to  task  for  comparing  the  government  of  Eng- 
land during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  with  the  governments 
of  Russia  and  Turkey.  But  Hallam  himself  is  one  of 
the  best  witnesses  to  the  almost  despotic  character  of 
Elizabeth's  rule.  Even  more  fully  than  Hume  himself, 
he  shows  how  the  laws  were  constantly  set  aside  by 
royal  proclamations ;  how  the  courts  of  justice  were  mere 
instruments  of  tyranny ;  how  trade  was  shackled  by 
monopolies  in  every  quarter ;  how  imports  and  exports 
were  taxed  by  the  crown  alone ;  how  Parliament  was 
prevented  from  discussing  questions  of  Church  or  State, 
and  how  its  members  who  attempted  to  raise  forbidden 
questions  were  silenced  by  imprisonment.  But,  he  says, 
liberty  was  not  dead,  because  the  House  of  Commons  ex- 
ercised some  rights:  it  insisted  on  being  the  judge  of  the 
election  of  its  own  members ;  its  members  w^ere  exempt 
from  arrest  on  civil  process ;  and  it  claimed  the  right  of 
punishment  for  contempt.  These  privileges,  all  novel, 
were  to  become  important  in  the  future,  but  they  were 
of  little  value  at  the  time.  Elizabeth  packed  the  House 
by  the  creation  of  sixty-two  new  boroughs,  and  was  will- 
ing to  let  its  members  play  at  Parliament,  so  long  as 
they  did  nothing  to  interfere  with  her  prerogative.  But 
Hallam  says  further  that  Parliament  was  not  wholly  sub- 
servient, for,  from  time  to  time,  voices  were  raised  there 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  crown,  and  that  these  voices 
became  more  numerous  as  the  years  rolled  on.  This  is 
true.  They  were  the  voices  of  the  men  who,  according 
to  Hume,  kindled  the  precious  spark  of  liberty  in  des- 
potic times. 

After  all,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  influence  of  the  Puri- 
tans, these  authors  differ  but  slightly.  Hume  says  that 
they  kindled  and  preserved  the  spark ;  Hallam  says  that 


428         THE   PURITAN  IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

they  became  "the  depositaries  of  the  sacred  fire"  and 
"  revived  the  smouldering  embers."  * 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  relation  of  the  Puri- 
tans to  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty,  certain  it  is  that,  with- 
in the  period  of  a  few  years,  they  worked  a  revolution 
in  English  thought  and  action  which  is  one  of  the  re- 
markable phenomena  of  modern  times,  and,  standing  by 
itself,  incapable  of  comprehension.f    New  ideas  were  in- 


*  "  Const.  Hist,"  i.  231. 

t  Macaulay,  the  champion  of  the  Whigs,  ^Yl•itiug  nearly  a  century 
after  Hume,  says,  in  regard  to  the  arbitrary  rule  of  Elizabeth  :  "It 
has  often  been  alleged,  as  an  excuse  for  the  misgovernment  of  her 
successors,  that  they  only  followed  her  example ;  that  precedents 
might  be  found  in  the  transactions  of  her  reign  for  persecuting  the 
Puritans,  for  levying  money  without  the  sanction  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  for  confining  men  without  bringing  them  to  trial,  for  in- 
terfering with  the  liberty  of  parliamentary  debate.  All  this  may  be 
true.  But  it  is  no  good  plea  for  her  successors,  and  for  this  plain 
reason,  that  they  were  her  successors.  Slie  governed  one  generation, 
they  governed  another;  and  between  the  two  generations  there  was 
almost  as  little  in  common  as  between  the  people  of  two  different 
countries."  Upon  the  causes  of  this  transformation,  however,  Ma- 
caulay, like  other  English  writers,  throws  but  little  light.  Essay 
on  Nares's  "Memoirs  of  Burleigh."  In  this  essay,  Macaulay  also  calls 
in  question  some  of  the  conclusions  of  Hume  regarding  the  despotic 
character  of  Elizabeth's  government.  He  does  not  dispute  the  facts, 
but  argues  that  her  rule  could  not  have  been  despotic,  for  had  it  been 
so  her  subjects  would  have  risen  against  her  in  successful  revolution, 
This  argument,  however,  proves  too  much ;  for,  tried  by  such  a  test, 
no  monarch  could  be  called  a  despot,  except  one  who  had  been  de- 
posed by  his  subjects.  As  for  the  aff"ection  entertained  for  Elizabeth 
by  the  English,  it  is  sufficient  to  remark  that  no  monarch,  in  life  and 
after  death,  was  ever  more  loved  by  his  people  than  was  Philip  II. 
by  the  Spaniards.  This  does  not  prove  that  Philip  respected  any 
principles  of  constitutional  liberty,  but  that  his  Spanish  subjects 
cared  nothing  for  such  principles.  He  was  loved  by  his  people  be- 
cause he  upheld  the  papacy,  and  tried  to  extend   the  power  of 


NOVELTY   OP    PURITAN    PRINCIPLES  429 

troduced,  and  new  principles  were  developed  by  them, 
which  for  a  time  controlled  the  nation  and  left  their  im- 
print on  the  national  character,  although  at  no  time 
were  they  accepted  by  the  body  of  the  people.  It  was 
the  very  novelty  of  their  principles  that  made  the  Puri- 
tans, when  they  came  into  power,  so  obnoxious  to  the 
majority  of  Englishmen,  and  that  for  many  after-genera- 
tions made  their  name  a  by-word  and  reproach.  At  the 
restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  England  seemed  to  have  done 
with  them  forever.  But,  although  the  prejudice  against 
the  name  continued,  many  of  their  reforms  survived, 
and  a  few  years  of  the  old  tyranny  were  suflacient  to 
breed  a  new  revolution  and  effect  the  reinstatement  of 
still  more  of  the  Puritan  principles  in  civil  matters. 
These  principles  have  never  been  adopted  in  England  as 
fully  as  in  the  United  States,  where  they  underlie  all  the 
institutions ;  but  as  the  English  form  of  government  has 
become  more  democratic,  the  tide  has  turned,  and  to-day 
the  name  of  Puritan  is  a  title  of  honor. 

Yet,  with  this  change  of  sentiment,  there  has  been  little 
change  in  the  mode  of  writing  English  history  in  one  im- 
portant point.  Whether  the  Puritan  is  looked  upon  as 
kindling  the  flame,  or  as  reviving  the  smouldering  em- 
bers of  liberty,  England  is  still  represented  as  the  fountain 
from  which  have  poured  forth  all  the  fertilizing  streams 
which  have  enriched  the  modern  world.  One  class  of 
writers  gives  the  Puritan  the  credit  of  originality ;  the 
other  endows  him  with  a  knowledge  of  early  English  in- 


Spain;  in  the  same  way,  Elizabeth  was  loved  by  her  people  because 
she  was  believed  to  oppose  the  papacy,  and  did  extend  the  power  of 
England.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  noticed  that  Good  Queen 
Bess  was  no  more  the  idol  of  her  people  than  was  her  father,  Bluff 
King  Hal,  under  whom,  certainly,  there  was  little  liberty. 


430       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,    AND    AMERICA 

stitutions,  only  unfolded  to  us  by  the  patient  research  of 
modern  investigators.  Each  ignores  all  the  foreign  in- 
fluences which  at  this  crucial  period  shaped  the  future 
of  the  English  people.  But,  in  fact,  the  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  Puritans  in  civil  as  well  as  religious  mat- 
ters were  not  indigenous  to  English  soil.  They  were  in 
the  main  not  only  novel  in  England,  but  also  of  foreign 
growth,  and,  being  transplanted,  they  took  root  but  slow- 
ly, and  after  a  brief  efflorescence  lived,  for  a  time,  but  a 
sickly  life.  Where  they  came  from  and  how  they  were 
brought  to  England  are  interesting  questions,  involving 
an  examination  of  the  development  of  English  Puritan- 
ism on  lines  quite  different  from  those  usually  followed. 
The  accession  of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne  of  England,  on 
ISTovember  17th,  1558,  was  hailed  with  joy  by  all  classes 
in  the  nation,  except  the  few  fanatical  bigots  who  had 
sympathized  with  the  bloody  persecutions  of  her  sister 
Mary.  The  Protestants  saw  in  the  young  queen  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  marriage  which  had  brought  about  a  separa- 
tion from  the  Church  of  Eome,  and  upon  that  fact,  and 
upon  her  Protestant  education,  based  their  hopes  of  the 
future.  The  Catholics  knew  that  she  had  professed  their 
creed  during  the  reign  just  ended,  and  felt  assured  that 
she  had  none  of  the  bigotry  which  would  endanger  their 
personal  safety,  even  if  she  went  back  to  her  earlier 
faith.  All  had  heard  of  her  as  a  young  princess  of 
studious  habits,  who  had  borne  imprisonment  with  ex- 
emplary patience,  looking  every  inch  a  queen,  and  yet 
with  manners  modest  and  affable.* 


*  Signer  Soranzo,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  writing  home  in  1554, 
four  years  earlier,  when  Elizabeth  was  twenty-one,  says :  "  Such  an  air 
of  dignified  majesty  pervades  all  her  actions  that  no  one  can  fail  to 
judge  her  a  queen.     She  is  a  good  Greek  and  Latin  scholar,  and, 


ELIZABETH'S    ACCESSION— THE   RELIGIOUS   FUTURE  431 

The  first  act  of  the  queen  was  the  selection  of  Sir 
"William  Cecil,  the  famous  Lord  Burghley,  as  her  chief 
secretary  and  confidential  adviser.  Cecil  had  been  the 
secretary  of  her  brother  Edward,  but  after  his  death 
had  conformed  to  the  Catholic  religion,  as  Elizabeth  had 
done ;  although  Mary  had  looked  upon  his  conversion 
with  distrust,  and  refused  to  give  him  any  public  office. 
He  had  always  been  friendly  to  Elizabeth,  and  she  never 
showed  greater  wisdom  than  in  choosing  him  for  her 
leading  councillor.  What  was  to  be  the  religion  of  the 
State  no  one  knew  at  first,  and  the  conduct  of  the  queen 
left  the  question  doubtful.  She  attended  mass,  she  bur- 
ied her  sister  with  all  the  solemnities  of  the  Catholic 
ritual,  and  ordered  prayers  to  be  said  for  the  soul  of 
Charles  Y.,  who  had  just  died.  On  the  other  hand,  she 
released  all  the  prisoners  confined  for  their  religion  by 
her  sister,  allowed  the  Protestant  exiles  to  return  from 
the  Continent,  and  when  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  was  about 
to  say  mass  in  the  royal  chapel,  she  gave  orders  that  the 
Host  should  not  be  elevated  in  her  presence.*  At  about 
the  same  time  a  proclamation  was  issued  forbidding  all 
preaching  in  the  kingdom.  Evidently  some  intelligence 
was  aAvaited  before  a  final  decision  could  be  reached.  It 
came,  and  it  determined  the  religious  history  of  England. 

Immediately  upon  the  death  of  Mary,  messengers  had 
been  despatched  to  the  different  courts  of  Europe  to  an- 


besides  her  native  tongue,  she  speaks  Latin,  French,  Spanish,  and 
Italian  lenissimo ;  and  her  manners  are  very  modest  and  affixble." 
Ravvdon  Brown's  "Calendar  State  Papers,"  1554,  from  "Venetian 
Archives;"  quoted  in  a  charming  little  book, " English  Lands,  Let- 
ters, and  Kings,  from  Celt  to  Tudor,"  by  Donald  G.  Mitchell  (New 
York),  p.  209.  Scores  of  witnesses  testify  as  to  what  her  manners 
became  when  she  had  been  a  few  years  upon  the  throne. 

*  Lingard's  "History  of  England  "(Philadelphia,  1827),  vii.  305. 


433        THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

nounce  the  succession  of  Elizabeth.  It  was  known  that 
the  French  king  would  not  recognize  her  title,  for  the 
Dauphin  had  married  Mary  Stuart,  who  claimed  the  Eng- 
lish crown.  But  Philip  of  Spain  was  the  natural  enemy 
of  France ;  he  had  always  professed  a  friendship  for  his 
sister-in-law,  and  now  that  he  was  a  widower  he  offered 
her  his  hand.  Such  a  marriage,  however,  required  a  dis- 
pensation from  the  pope.  Unfortunately  for  the  Catholic 
cause,  the  papal  throne  was  occupied  by  a  pontiff  (Paul 
ly.),  who  was  over  eighty  years  old,  narrow-minded,  and 
under  the  influence  of  France.  When,  therefore,  the  Eng- 
lish ambassador  announced  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
the  pope  replied  that  he  was  unable  to  comprehend  the 
hereditary  right  of  one  who  was  not  born  in  lawful  wed- 
lock ;  that  the  Queen  of  Scots  claimed  the  crown  as  the 
nearest  legitimate  descendant  of  Henry  YII. ;  but  that  if 
Elizabeth  was  willing  to  submit  the  controversy  to  his 
arbitration,  she  should  receive  from  him  every  indulgence 
which  justice  could  allow.* 

With  such  a  rebuff  from  Kome,  which  cut  off  all  hopes 
of  a  Spanish  marriage,  and  with  an  adverse  claimant  to 
the  crown,  who  was  a  Catholic  and  supported  by  the 
power  of  France,  nothing  remained  to  Elizabeth,  what- 
ever her  inclinations,  except  to  announce  herself  as  a 
Protestant  queen.  Still,  secrecy  was  maintained  until 
arrangements  could  be  completed  for  assembling  a  new 
Parliament.     A  commission  was  privatelj^  set  at  work 


*  Lingard,  vii.  204  ;  Creighton's  "  Age  of  Elizabeth  "  (New  York, 
1885),  p.  46.  Paul  died  in  the  succeeding  August,  1559.  His  suc- 
cessor, Pius  IV.,  was  a  man  of  very  different  ideas.  He  sent  a  nuncio 
to  England,  offering,  it  is  said,  to  approve  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  provided  only  that  the  English  Church  would  submit  to  the 
papal  supremacy.  But  the  offer  came  too  late.  The  nuncio  was  not 
even  allowed  to  enter  England.     Creighton,  p.  50. 


PARLIAMENT   KECONSTKUCTS    THE   ENGLISH   CHURCH         433 

to  revise  the  Prayer-book  of  Edward  YI,  Some  of  the 
old  bishops  were  imprisoned,  and  four  or  five  new  Prot- 
estant peers  created  so  as  to  control  the  upper  House. 
The  lower  House  was  filled  in  the  usual  manner.  During 
the  reign  of  Mary,  the  sheriffs  had  been  instructed  to 
see  that  only  good  Catholics  were  returned  as  members. 
Now  they  were  instructed  to  have  a  choice  made  from  a 
list  of  candidates  furnished  by  the  court.*  On  January 
15th,  1559,  Elizabeth  was  formally  crowned,  one  of  the 
old  bishops  consenting  to  officiate,  using  the  rites  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  On  January  25th  the  new  Par- 
liament began  its  session.  Of  the  bishops,  only  ten  were 
in  attendance  and  voting ;  of  the  sixty-one  peers,  thirty 
were  conspicuous  by  their  absence.f  The  lower  House 
was  made  up  of  court  nominees,  distinguished  for  their 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  Protestantism. 

The  Parliament,  thus  constituted,  in  a  session  of  three 
months,  reconstructed  the  English  Church,  w^hich,  with 
little  change,  has  continued  on  the  basis  then  established 
until  the  present  day.  The  packed  members  of  the  lower 
House  knew  nothing  of  the  vacillation  of  the  queen.  They 
were  decided  in  their  opposition  to  the  Church  of  Eome, 
and  had  no  question  of  her  entire  sympathy.  As  English- 
men, they  had  the  traditional  reverence  for  the  crown 
which  w^ould  lead  them  to  pass  almost  any  measure  which 
came  to  them  with  the  royal  recommendation.  Proceed- 
ing in  a  few  days  to  give  to  the  crown  the  first-fruits  (that 
is,  the  first  year's  income  of  all  church  livings)  and  tenths 
(that  is,  one  tenth  of  all  incomes  thereafter),  they  began 
by  enacting  two  statutes,  which  are  of  great  importance 
as  affecting  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Puritans. 


*  Strype's  "Annals,"  i.  33;  Lingard,  vii.  206,  citing  "Clarendon 
Papers."  t  Froude,  vii.  41. 

I.— 28 


434       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

The  first  of  these  statutes  is  commonly  called  "  The 
Act  of  Supremacy."  By  its  provisions  the  sovereign  was 
declared  to  be  the  supreme  governor  of  the  Church. 
She  was  authorized  to  nominate  all  bishops,  to  control 
the  ecclesiastical  state  and  persons  by  juridical  visitation, 
to  correct  all  manner  of  heresies,  schisms,  offences,  con- 
tempts, and  enormities  in  the  Church ;  and  these  powers 
of  visitation  and  correction  she  was  authorized  to  dele- 
gate to  commissioners  of  her  own  selection.  All  per- 
sons in  the  State  holding  benefices  or  offices  were  re- 
quired to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy,  avowing  "  the 
queen  to  be  the  only  supreme  governor  within  the 
realm,  as  well  in  all  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  causes  and 
things  as  temporal."  Any  one  affirming  the  authority, 
within  the  realm,  of  any  foreign  power,  spiritual  or  ec- 
clesiastical, was,  for  the  first  offence,  to  forfeit  all  his 
goods ;  for  the  second,  to  incur  the  penalties  of  a  praem- 
unire ;  and  for  the  third,  to  be  punished  as  a  traitor.* 

The  second  act  revived  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
of  the  time  of  Edward  Yl.,  with  some  alterations  and 
additions.  It  provided  that  any  minister  who  should 
refuse  to  use  it,  who  should  use  any  other  rites  and 
forms  than  those  therein  set  down,  or  who  should  speak 
in  its  derogation,  should,  for  the  first  offence,  forfeit  the 
profits  of  his  benefice  for  a  year,  and  be  imprisoned  for 
six  months  without  bail ;  for  the  second,  lose  his  bene- 
fice and  be  imprisoned  for  a  year ;  and  for  the  third,  be 
imprisoned  for  life.  Any  persons  not  in  order  who 
should  thus  offend,  or  use  public  prayers  in  any  other 
than  the  prescribed  form,  were  for  the  first  and  second 
offence  to  be  severely  fined,  and  for  the  third  to  forfeit 
all  their  property  and  suffer  imprisonment  for  life.    Per- 

*  1  Eliz.  cap.  1. 


PEOTESTANT   EXILES   UNDER    QUEEN   MARY  435 

sons  absenting  themselves  from  church  on  Sundays  or 
holydays,  without  excuse,  were  to  forfeit  twelve  pence 
for  each  offence.  The  ceremonies  of  the  Church  and  the 
dress  of  the  clergy  were  to  be  as  in  the  time  of  Edward ; 
but  the  queen,  with  the  advice  of  her  commissioners  or 
of  the  archbishop,  and  without  the  concurrence  of  Par- 
liament or  even  the  body  of  the  clergy,  was  authorized 
to  ordain  further  rites  and  ceremonies  without  limit.* 

Such  were  the  famous  ecclesiastical  acts  by  which, 
in  the  first  year  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  the  Established 
Church  was  reorganized.  They  were  aimed  at  the 
Catholics,  and  passed  the  upper  House  only  by  small 
majorities  and  after  bitter  opposition.  Under  their 
provisions,  all  the  bishops  except  one  lost  their  places ; 
but  of  the  clergy  at  large,  numbering  several  thou- 
sands, less  than  two  hundred  refused  to  take  the  oath, 
and  forfeited  their  livings.-j-  Of  the  Puritans,  whose 
name  had  not  yet  come  into  existence,  little  thought 
was  taken.  No  one  dreamed  of  what  a  scourge  Parlia- 
ment was  placing  in  the  hands  of  a  queen  who  seemed 
so  modest  and  affable  in  her  demeanor.  How  she  used 
it  against  those  who  were,  at  first,  most  exultant,  we 
shall  shortly  see. 

During  the  persecutions  under  Queen  Mary,  the  most 
eminent  of  the  Protestants,  lay  and  clerical,  had  taken 
refuge  in  various  cities  of  Germany  and  Switzerland.:}: 
In  each  country  they  found  Protestantism  in  the  ascend- 
ant, but  under  very  different  forms.  The  Lutherans 
of  Germany  had  abjured  the  pope,  but  had  practically 


*  1  Eliz.  cap.  2. 

t  Hallam,  Froude,  Camden,  etc.  Lingard  says  that  the  Catholic 
writers  make  the  number  much  greater,  but  he  does  not  give  any 
figures. 

J  According  to  Neal,  they  were  about  eight  hundred  in  number. 


436        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

transferred  his  authority  to  the  temporal  princes.  The 
secular  rulers  gained  by  the  change,  for  their  subjects 
no  longer  recognized  a  divided  allegiance.  The  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  power  of  the  pope  was  gone,  but  it 
was  succeeded  by  the  divine  right  of  kings.*  Calvin- 
ism, on  the  other  hand,  was  republican  in  its  character. 
The  minister  selected  by  the  people  was  above  king  or 
noble.  He  might  be  a  despot  himself,  but  he  had  been 
chosen  by  the  congregation,  and  acknowledged  no  supe- 
rior except  the  King  of  Kings.  The  hereditary  mon- 
archs  of  the  world  were  not  mistaken  in  regarding  the 
Calvinists  as  their  natural  foes. 

In  their  forms  of  worship  the  difference  between  these 
two  great  sects  was  equally  marked.  Luther  had  re- 
tained much  of  the  ceremonial  of  the  Eomish  Church. 
Crucifixes  and  images,  tapers  and  priestly  vestments, 
even  for  a  time  the  elevation  of  the  Host  and  the  Latin 
mass-book,  continued  in  the  Lutheran  churches.f  On 
the  other  hand,  the  followers  of  Calvin  had  adopted  the 
simplest  form  of  worship.  They  attempted  to  put  away 
everything  which,  in  their  eyes,  seemed  to  stand  between 
man  and  his  Creator.  Their  ministers  appealed  not  to  the 
senses,  but  to  the  reason,  and  hence  the  sermon  formed 
the  chief  feature  of  their  service.  The  more  liberal 
among  them  regarded  the  question  of  stated  forms  of 
prayers,  and  peculiar  vestments  for  the  clergy,  as  mat- 
ters of  indifference ;  but,  in  the  main,  they  were  by  a 
natural  reaction  opposed  to  everything  which  savored 
of  the  papacy.     In  England,  during  the  reign  of  Ed- 


*  The  Lutheran  churches  were  governed  by  consistories  appoint- 
ed by  the  princes  or  other  civil  powers.  "  American  Presbyterian- 
ism,"  Briggs,  p.  2. 

•t  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  176. 


THE  EXILES   RETUKN   TO    ENGLAND  437 

ward  yi.,  the  tendency  of  the  Eeformation,  under  an 
influence  from  Geneva,  had  been  towards  Calvinism. 
The  preachers  who  fled  to  the  Continent,  under  his  sue- . 
cessor,  had,  therefore,  a  predisposition  in  that  direction. 
The  reception  accorded  them  in  tlieir  various  asylums 
made  it  more  decided.  In  Germany,  among  the  Lutlier- 
ans,  they  were  neglected  and  frequently  insulted,  while 
by  the  Calvinists  of  Switzerland  they  were  received  with 
open  arms.* 

Upon  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  the  exiles  returned 
to  England  with  high  hopes  for  the  future.  They  rep- 
resented the  learning  and  the  eloquence  of  the  Church. 
They  had  suffered  for  their  religion,  and  naturally  ex- 
pected recognition ;  but,  what  was  of  higher  moment, 
they  looked  to  see  the  Eeformation  take  great  strides 
under  the  young  queen,  who  had  always  been  regarded 
as  a  Protestant  at  heart.  The  personal  recognition  came 
at  once  to  many  of  them,  for,  though  the  exiles  were 
Calvinists  almost  to  a  man,  they  generally  received  pre- 
ferment, since  there  were  at  the  time  no  others  to  fill 
the  higher  places  in  the  Church.  The  people,  too,  so 
far  as  they  cared  about  such  questions,  seemed  to  be  in 
accord  with  their  opinions.  So  intense  an  antagonism 
had  been  aroused  by  the  persecutions  carried  on  in  the 
reign  of  Mary  that  most  of  the  earnest  men  of  the  king, 
dom  inclined  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction.  In 
truth,  but  for  one  obstacle  it  is  probable  that  the  Refor- 
mation in  England  would  have  assumed  a  form  that 
might  have  postponed  for  many  years  the  appearance 
of  the  Puritans  as  a  distinct  party  in  the  Church  of 
State.     That  obstacle  was  the  queen  herself. 


*  Hallam,  i.  176. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ENGLISH     PURITANISM 
QUEEN    ELIZABETH   AND   THE   PUKITANS— 1558-1585 

There  are  few  historical  personages  who  have  received 
so  much  attention  from  writers,  friendly  and  unfriendly, 
as  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  fewer  stiU  whose  actions  and 
character,  until  a  recent  da}'",  have  been  so  little  under- 
stood. About  this  there  is  nothing  remarkable,  in  view 
of  her  position  as  an  unmarried  queen,  her  place  in  the 
royal  succession,  the  inaccessibility  of  many  documents 
relating  to  the  transactions  of  her  reign,  and  the  roman- 
tic conceptions  generally  prevailing  as  to  the  condition 
of  English  society  when  she  was  on  the  throne.  These 
causes  have  led  to  numerous  fictions  regarding  her  con- 
duct in  civil  matters,  but  such  fictions  can  hardly  be 
compared  with  those  which  have  been  woven  about  her 
conduct  in  religious  matters.  Some  writers  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  style  her  "  The  Defender  of  Euiopean  Prot- 
estantism." Whether  she  deserves  this  or  any  oth- 
er title  of  honor  connected  with  the  Eeformation  will 
appear  from  her  actions  towards  her  own  Church,  and 
that  of  the  struggling  Protestants  upon  the  Continent. 

Elizabeth  was  what  may  be  called  a  political  Protes- 
tant, of  the  type  common  among  the  Lutheran  princes 
of  Germany.  She  was  resolute  not  to  admit  the  papal 
supremacy — so  long,  at  least,  as  it  meant  peril  to  her 
throne — but  not  so  averse  to  the  doctrines  abjured  by 


RELIGIOUS   INCLINATIONS   OF   ELIZABETH  439 

the  Protestants.  For  example,  she  believed  in  transub- 
stantiation,  reproving  a  divine  who  preached  against  the 
real  presence,  and  is  said  to  have  read  prayers  to  the 
Virgin.*  She  w^ished  to  retain  images  and  crucifixes  in 
the  churches,  and,  although  this  point  was  abandoned, 
she  retained  the  crucifix  and  lighted  tapers  in  her  own 
chapel.  The  marriage  of  the  clergy  she  always  opposed. 
It  was  forbidden  by  a  law  enacted  in  the  previous  reign, 
to  the  repeal  of  which  her  consent  could  never  be  ob- 
tained. Hence,  until  after  her  death,  nothing  but  an 
ilhcit  connection  existed,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  be- 
tween the  ministers  of  the  Established  Church  and  their 
so-called  wives.f  As  to  the  ceremonial  of  the  Church, 
she  was  inflexibly  opposed  to  the  simplicity  advocated 
by  a  majority  of  the  earnest  reformers.  In  her  own 
chapel,  and  in  some  of  the  cathedrals,  the  service  was 
so  splendid  that  foreigners  could  only  distinguish  it 
from  that  of  the  Church  of  Rome  by  the  use  of  the 
English  language  instead  of  Latin.:}: 

It  was  upon  the  point  of  ceremonials  that  the  first 
controversy  arose  within  the  Church.  The  queen  in- 
sisted that  all  the  clergy  should  retain  the  vestments 
worn  by  the  former  priests.  They  were  also  to  use  the 
sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  the  ring  in  marriage,  and 
to  administer  the  communion  to  the  congregation  when 
kneeling.§  A  large  body  of  the  new  clergy  objected  to 
these  forms,  as  relics  of  superstition,  external  symbols 
which  tended  to  keep  alive  recollections  of  the  old  faith, 
preparing  the  way  for  its  future  restoration.     To  these 


*  Strype's  "Annals,"  ed.  1834,  i.  3. 

t  Hallam,  i.  178.  J  Neal. 

§  The  use  of  tlie  ring  in  marriage  was  a  pure  ^Dagan  rite  borrowed 
from  ancient  Rome. 


440         TOE  PURITAN  IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

men  the  question  seemed  one  of  vital  importance.  They 
found  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  to  warrant  the  enforce- 
ment of  these  ceremonies,  and  deemed  their  imposition 
by  the  civil  power  a  violation  of  the  right  of  conscience. 
Many  others  regarded  them  as  matters  of  indifference, 
and,  in  order  to  have  harmony  within  the  Church,  would 
have  consented  to  give  them  up.  Most  of  the  leading 
divines  took  this  view  of  the  question,  and,  despite  all 
the  influence  of  the  crown,  a  resolution  favoring  the 
abolition  of  the  objectionable  usages  was  lost  in  the  con- 
vocation of  the  clergy,  in  1562,  by  only  a  single  vote.* 

But  although  the  queen  insisted  on  the  old  ceremoni- 
al, many  of  the  Established  clergy  refused  compliance. 
Some  wore  the  habits,  others  laid  them  aside ;  some  wore 
a  square  cap,  some  a  round  cap,  some  a  hat ;  some  used 
the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  others  did  not;  while 
communicants  received  the  sacrament  kneeling,  sitting, 
or  standing,  as  the  minister  saw  fit.  This  went  on  for 
several  3"ears  while  the  nation  was  settling  down  into 
its  new  conditions. 

During  this  period  the  word  Puritan  was  coined. f 
It  was  not  at  first  a  term  of  reproach,  as  it  came  to  be 
in  later  years,  but  was  applied  to  men  high  in  station 
who  sought  the  purest  form  of  worship,  what  they 
themselves  called  the  "  religio  purissima."  :{:  They  still 
remained  within  the  Church ;  they  sought  no  separation. 
They  only  asked  that  in  matters  which  their  opponents 


*  Hallam,  i.  180.  Strype's  "Annals,"  i.  505.  Jewel,  one  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  bishops  at  this  time  (1562),  in  his  private  corre- 
spondence, speaks  of  the  Church  ceremonies  as  "  scenic  apparatus," 
"fooleries,"  and  "relics  of  the  Amorites."    Works,  viii.  123,  134. 

t  About  1564.    Fuller's  "  Church  History,"  ix.  66. 

I  See  letter  from  De  Silva,  the  Spauisli  ambassador,  to  Philip, 
July  2,  1568,  quoted  Froude,  ix.  326. 


THE   PURITANS    COME    INTO   EXISTENCE— THEIR   PERSECUTION    441 

regarded  as  non-essential  their  consciences  might  remain 
free.  Nothing  but  persecution,  largely  instigated  by 
a  Spanish  influence,  alienated  them  from  the  Church, 
drove  some  into  separate  establishments,  and  finally 
made  them  a  political  part}^  in  the  State.  Well  had 
it  been  for  England  if  these  extremities  had  been 
avoided.* 

The  persecution  was  begun  by  Parker,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  Parker  himself  had  been  a 
Puritan  for  two  years  after  Elizabeth  ascended  the 
throne,t  but  he  now  professed  new  opinions,  and  ex- 
hibited that  bitterness  against  his  old  associates  which 
so  often  accompanies  a  change  of  parties.  In  1565,  he 
summoned  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  —  a 
court  established  by  the  queen  under  the  Act  of  Suprem- 
acy of  1559,  and  over  which  he  presided — two  of  the 
eminent  scholars  of  the  time.  The  first,  Samson,  a 
Marian  exile,  who  had  refused  a  bishopric  because  of  the 
obnoxious  ceremonials,  was  dean  of  Christ  Church ;  the 
other,  Humphrey,  was  president  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford. :{;  Both  were  pronounced  non-conformists,  but 
one  example  was  deemed  sufficient.  Samson,  still  refus- 
ing to  wear  the  ordained  vestments,  was  sent  to  prison 
for  a  time  and  deprived  of  his  deanery.§  This  exam- 
ple, however,  produced  no  effect,  and  Parker  decided 
on  a  broader  measure.  All  the  clergymen  of  London 
were  summoned  before  him  and  called  upon  for  a  prom- 
ise to  comply  with  the  legal  ceremonial.  Thirty-seven 
out  of  ninety-eight  refused  to  give  the  promise,  and  were 


*  Hallam.  t  Hallam,  i.  177. 

I  In  1563,  Oxford  contained  only  three  Protestant  preachers,  and 
they  -were  all  Puritans.     Neal. 

§  Humphrey  subsequently  conformed.    Strype's  "  Annals,"  ii.  451. 


442        THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

in  consequence  suspended  from  the  ministry  and  de- 
prived of  their  livings.  These,  unfortunately,  according 
to  Hallam,  as  was  the  case  in  all  this  reign,  were  the 
most  conspicuous  both  for  their  general  character  and 
their  talent  in  preaching.* 

Among  the  clergymen  who  about  this  time  were  cited 
before  Parker  was  a  man  that  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice,  for  he  probably  did  more  for  the  cause  of 
Protestantism  in  England  than  any  other  single  person. 
This  was  John  Foxe,  the  martyrologist. 

A  grave,  learned,  and  laborious  divine,  he  had  gone 
into  exile  during  the  Marian  persecution,  and  had  passed 
his  time  abroad  in  writing  a  history  of  the  martyrs  of 
the  Church,  especially  those  who  had  suffered  for  religion 
during  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  his  daughter 
Mary.  His  work  was  first  published  abroad  in  Latin, 
in  the  year  1559,  for  the  benefit  of  foreigners.  In  1563, 
he  published  an  English  translation  with  a  dedication  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.  Its  value  was  at  once  appreciated,  and 
an  order  was  issued  directing  copies  of  the  book  to  be 
placed  in  the  churches  for  public  perusal,  in  the  same 
way  that  the  English  Bible  had  been  placed  there  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Eeformation.  When  we  recollect  that 
until  the  appearance  of  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  in  the 
next  century,  the  common  people  had  almost  no  reading 
matter  except  the  Bible  and  Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs," 
we  can  understand  the  deep  impression  that  this  book 
produced,  and  how  much  it  served  to  mould  the  national 
character.  Those  who  could  read  found  there  full  details 
of  all  the  atrocities  committed  on  the  Protestant  Re- 
formers :  the  illiterate  could  see  the  rude  illustrations  of 
the  various  instruments  of  torture,  the  rack,  the  gridiron, 


*  Hallam,  i.  185. 


FOXE'S   BOOK   OF  MARTYRS— TREATMENT   OF   ITS   AUTHOR       443 

the  boiling  oil,  and  then  the  holy  martyrs  breathing  out 
their  souls  amid  the  flames.* 

Take  now  a  people  just  awakening  to  a  new  intellect- 
ual and  religious  life ;  let  several  generations  of  them, 
from  childhood  to  old  age,  pore  over  such  a  book  as 
this,  and  its  stories  become  traditions,  as  indelible  and 
almost  as  potent  as  songs  and  customs  on  a  nation's 
life.  All  the  fiendish  acts  there  narrated  were  the 
work  of  the  Church  of  Eome,  for  no  hint  was  given  of 
any  other  side  of  the  story.  !No  wonder  that  among  the 
masses,  aside  from  any  religious  sentiment  or  convic- 
tion, there  grew  up  a  horror  and  detestation  of  the  pope 
and  the  Komish  Church  which  have  not  entirely  lost 
their  force  even  after  three  centuries  of  Protestant  dom- 
ination. The  influence  of  this  feeling  on  the  English 
people  can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  The  country  squires 
who  came  to  the  parliaments  of  Elizabeth,  as  a  rule, 
probably  cared  little  for  religion  ;  but  they  were  united 
in  their  hatred  of  the  papal  power,  and  this  hatred,  al- 
ways coupled  with  a  dread,  became  more  intense  as  time 
went  on.  After  the  dispersion  of  the  Spanish  Armada, 
much  of  the  fear  of  a  direct  attack  from  abroad  passed 
away,  and  there  arose  that  exultant  spirit  of  national  in- 
dependence which  Shakespeare  puts  into  the  words  of 
an  English  king : 

"  Thou  canst  not,  cardinal,  devise  a  name 
So  slight,  unworthy,  and  ridiculous, 
To  charge  me  to  an  answer,  as  the  pope. 
Tell  him  this  tale,  and  from  the  mouth  of  England 
Add  thus  much  more  :  that  no  Italian  priest 
Shall  titlie  or  toll  in  our  dominions." 

Ki7ig  John,  act  iii.  sc.  1. 


*  In  1582,  an  enlarged  edition  appeared.     In  1610,  it  was  illus- 
trated with  copper  cuts.     Strype's  "  Annals,"  iii.  501. 


444       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

Yet  the  hatred  and  the  underlying  dread  of  the  Cath- 
ohcs  still  remained.  Throughout  the  next  century  the 
English  squire  might  know  nothing  of  politics  or  theol- 
ogy; but,  whether  he  sided  with  or  against  the  king,  it 
was  a  part  of  his  creed  to  hate  tlie  pope,  and  nothing 
but  this  antagonism  led  to  the  ultimate  downfall  of  the 
Stuarts.  Other  causes  combined  to  produce  this  result, 
but  certainly  not  the  least  important  was  Foxe's  "  Book 
of  Martyrs,"  which  could  be  found  in  every  Protestant 
mansion-house,  occupying,  next  to  the  Bible,  the  place 
of  honor. 

Such  was  the  book,  but  its  author  was  a  Puritan. 
Ehzabeth  professed  an  esteem  for  him,  but  did  as  little 
in  his  behalf  as  she  did  for  Ascham,  her  Puritan  tutor, 
to  whom  her  reputation  for  learning  owes  so  much.* 
Having  conscientious  scruples  about  wearing  the  vest- 
ments prescribed  by  law,  Foxe  vainly  sought  a  position 
in  the  Church,  until  at  length,  reduced  to  very  great 
poverty,  he  obtained  a  petty  place  in  the  Salisbury  Ca- 
thedral. Cited  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  in 
1565,  and  asked  to  subscribe  to  the  Prayer-book,  he  took 
a  Greek  Testament  from  his  pocket  and  said  he  would 
subscribe  to  that.  When  they  offered  him  the  canons 
he  refused,  saying,  "  I  have  nothing  in  the  Church  but  a 
prebend,  and  much  good  it  may  do  you  if  you  take  it 
from  me."  It  was  not  thought  safe  to  deal  harshly  with 
a  man  to  whom  the  whole  Protestant  world  looked  up, 
and  he  was  permitted  to  go  in  peace,  holding  on  to  his 
little  office  until  his  death. f 


*  Ascham  lived  on  a  small  pension  granted  by  Henry  VIII.  and 
renewed  by  Mary,  and  a  lease  of  a  fixrm  granted  by  the  latter. 
Elizabeth  gave  him  nothing,  and,  but  for  this  lease,  his  wife  and 
children  would  have  been  left  beggars  at  his  death.  Ascham's 
"  Scholemaster,"  Mayor^s  ed.,  1863,  pp.  203,  203.  t  Neal. 


MILES   COVERDALE— PERSECUTION    EXPANDED  445 

Another  of  the  lights  of  the  Eeformation  fared  more 
harshly.  This  was  Miles  Coverdale,  whose  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  English,  printed  at  Antwerp  in  1535, 
was  the  first  that  was  published  in  the  Enghsh  language. 
He  was  a  learned  man,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  and 
a  celebrated  preacher.  During  the  reign  of  Edward 
he  was  made  Bishop  of  Exeter.  Upon  the  accession 
of  Mary,  he  was  imprisoned",  and  narrowly  escaped  the 
flames,  being  saved  only  by  the  intercession  of  the  King 
of  Denmark,  in  whose  country  he  took  refuge.  Keturn- 
ing  to  England,  he  assisted  at  the  consecration  of  Ehza- 
beth's  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but,  being  a  Puri- 
tan and  scrupling  at  the  vestments,  could  for  some  time 
obtain  no  preferment.  At  last,  in  1563,  being  now  old 
and  poor,  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  himself  inclined 
towards  Puritanism,  took  compassion  on  him  and  gave 
him  a  small  church  near  London  Bridge.  Here  he 
preached  quietly  for  two  years,  but,  not  coming  up  to 
the  required  conformity,  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his 
parish  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age.  Thus,  as  Keal 
says,  his  gray  hairs  were  brought  down  with  sorrow  to 
the  grave.* 

The  persecution  of  the  Puritans  up  to  this  point,  al- 
though opposed  to  the  principles  of  a  wise  and  liberal- 
minded  policy,  might  be  extenuated  upon  the  legal 
ground  that  ministers  within  an  established  church 
should  conform  to  its  requirements.  The  next  meas- 
ures, however,  were  of  a  different  character,  and  for 
them  there  is  no  such  palliation. 

When  the  Puritan  clergymen  of  London  were  driven 
from  their  churches,  in  1565,  many  of  their  followers 
went  with  them  and  established  separate  associations. 

*  Neal,  i.  108. 


44G       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

They  created  no  disorder,  but  quietly  came  together  in 
private  houses  or  public  halls,  sang  their  hymns,  and 
listened  to  the  Bible  and  the  sermons  of  their  ministers. 
Certainly  here  was  no  grave  offence  against  the  law  in 
a  Protestant  community.  It  would  seem,  so  long  as 
these  gatherings  were  orderly,  and  nothing  was  said  or 
intended  against  the  government,  that  well-meaning, 
conscientious  citizens  might  claim  a  simple  toleration 
of  their  particular  form  of  worship,  ]^ot  so  thought  the 
queen  or  her  archbishop.  In  1567,  a  congregation  thus 
worshipping  in  a  London  hall  was  arrested  by  the  sher- 
iff, and  its  members,  to  the  number  of  about  one  hun- 
dred, hauled  up  before  the  bishop.  The  only  charge 
against  them  was  that  of  worshipping  God  under  forms 
not  prescribed  by  law ;  of  this  they  were  found  guilty, 
and  twenty-four  men  and  seven  women  were  sent  to 
Bridewell  for  a  year.* 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  it  illustrates  what  Hume 
says,  in  contrast  with  some  modern  writers,  as  to  the  al- 
most absolute  power  of  the  crown,  that  in  these  early 
coercive  proceedings  the  queen  and  her  archbishop  had 
almost  no  sympathizers  among  the  men  prominent  in 
Church  and  State.  The  Bishops  of  I^orwich  and  Dur- 
ham were  openly  on  the  side  of  the  Puritans ;  the  Bishop 
of  London  and  the  Archbishop  of  York  inclined  towards 
them ;  while  in  the  council  the  Earls  of  Leicester,  Bed- 
ford, Huntingdon,  and  I^orwich  (the  chief  Protestant 
nobles),  Bacon,  the  Lord  Keeper,  Walsingham,  Sadler, 
and  Knollys,  were  either  their  friends  or  thought  that 
severity  was  being  pressed  too  far.f  Trouble  evidently 
was  brewing  for  England  as  well  as  for  the  cause  of  the 


*  Neal.     Hallam  says  tliat  only  fourteen  or  fifteen  were  sent  to 
prison.  t  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  186. 


OPPOSITION   OF   THE    COUNCIL— ELIZABETH'S  POSITION        447 

Keformation  at  large.  About  this  time,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  Alva  began  his  butchery  in  the  Netherlands ; 
Mary  of  Scotland  became  a  prisoner,  and  the  focus  of 
conspiracy  ;  Elizabeth  was  excommunicated  by  the  pope ; 
the  Catholic  college  Avas  founded  at  Douay ;  and  the 
Northern  earls  rose  in  rebellion.  The  sagacious  council- 
lors of  the  queen  thought  this  an  ill-chosen  crisis  for 
driving  to  extremities  the  most  faithful  and  devoted  of 
her  subjects.  They  urged  that  her  true  policy  lay  in 
an  open,  active  support  of  the  struggling  Protestants 
abroad,  and  in  a  reformation  of  the  Church  at  home,  so 
as  to  make  it  a  real  and  not  a  fictitious  Protestant  es- 
tablishment. 

The  fact  that  Elizabeth  never  would  accept  their  ad- 
vice, even  after  Cecil  joined  them ;  that  she  carried 
out  a  vacillating  foreign  policy,  while  at  home  she  op- 
posed all  innovations,  trying  to  keep  the  Church  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  old  model,  the  people  ignorant, 
and  the  clergy  subservient,  forms  an  historical  problem 
which  has  excited  much  discussion.  The  subject  is  an 
important  one,  for  much  that  was  unlovely  in  the  later 
.Puritanism  of  England  was  due  simply  to  the  actions  of 
the  queen.  Many  writers,  looking  only  at  the  final  re- 
sult, give  her  credit  for  a  sagacit}^  far  surpassing  that  of 
all  the  able  statesmen  by  whom  she  was  surrounded. 
They  argue  that  had  she  gone  too  fast  or  too  far,  she 
would  have  alienated  the  great  mass  of  her  Catholic 
subjects  and  brought  peril  to  her  throne  ;  that  she  kept 
her  finger  on  the  nation's  pulse,  and  understood  its  beat- 
ings better  than  such  men  as  Walsingham  or  Cecil ;  that 
what  the  country  needed  was  peace ;  that  her  policy  se- 
cured it,  and  that  this  proves  her  wisdom.*    But  this  is 


*  Of  tliis  school,  Green  is  a  prominent  leader. 


448       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

arguing  after  the  event.  Such  reasoning  ignores  the 
facts  that  time  and  again  she  was  saved  from  ruin  in 
her  own  despite  ;  that  nothing  but  a  succession  of  what 
some  of  her  advisers  called  miracles,  and  others  caUed 
happy  accidents,  kept  her  on  the  throne ;  and  that  all  her 
dangers  came  from  the  men  whom  she  favored,  while  her 
safety  lay  in  those  whom  she  persecuted  and  discour- 
aged. The  problem  of  determining  what  motives  actu- 
ated her  conduct  seems  capable  of  a  simpler  solution 
than  that  of  endowing  her  with  superhuman  prescience. 

Elizabeth,  as  is  well  known,  was  without  any  religious 
convictions ;  but  such  sentiment  or  underlying  supersti- 
tious instincts  as  she  had  inclined  her  to  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Her  love  of  its  gorgeous  ceremonial  shows  the 
sentiment ;  her  belief  in  the  real  presence,  her  adoration 
of  the  crucifix,  and  prayers  to  the  Virgin  when  in  peril 
show  the  innate  superstition.  These  facts  alone  would 
not  be  sufficient  to  explain  her  policy,  but  they  throw 
some  light  upon  it.  Add  now  another  factor,  and  the 
question  becomes  much  clearer. 

Throughout  the  early  years  of  her  reign,  the  Hugue- 
nots in  France  and  the  Reformers  in  the  ISiCtherlands 
were  struggling  for  their  existence.  They  alone,  the 
Protestants  of  Germany  being  listless,  stood  as  a  bul- 
wark against  the  returning  wave  of  Continental  Cathol- 
icism. Incapable  herself  of  comprehending  their  high 
religious  motives,  disliking  them  as  rebels,  and  having 
no  sympathy  with  their  belief,  Elizabeth  always  under- 
rated their  power  and  looked  forward  to  their  ultimate 
defeat.  Entertaining  this  conviction,  herself  inclined  to 
Catholicism,  most  of  her  personal  favorites  being  adher- 
ents of  the  old  faith,*  and  the  great  majority  of  the  na- 

*  Froude,  xi.  18. 


ELIZABETH'S   SCHEMES   FOR   RECONCILIATION    WITH    ROME     449 

tion  having  no  convictions,  what  would  be  more  natural 
than  that  she  should  always  have  had  in  view  her  own 
future  reconciliation  with  the  Church  of  Eome?  The 
final  collapse  of  the  Spanish  attempts  on  England  in 
1588,  followed  by  an  exultant  outburst  of  national  feel- 
ing which  showed  the  weakness  of  Catholicism,  together 
with  the  almost  synchronous  success  of  the  Protestants 
in  Holland  and  of  Henry  of  Navarre  in  France,  changed 
the  current  of  European  history ;  but  if  we  seek  for  the 
motives  which,  in  the  main,  controlled  Elizabeth  until 
that  time,  looking  for  an  explanation  of  her  foreign  poli- 
cy, and  her  treatment  of  the  Catholics  and  Puritans  at 
home,  we  have  here  what  seems  a  very  simple  clue. 
Upon  many  subjects  she  showed  more  than  a  feminine 
vacillation,  and  her  attachment  to  devious  courses  was 
something  phenomenal ;  but  to  one  object  she  was  con- 
stant :  nothing  should  be  done,  while  she  could  prevent 
it,  to  place  England  beyond  the  pale,  so  that  if  it  were 
to  her  personal  advantage  the  restoration  of  the  old  re- 
ligion would  be  impossible. 

This  theory  of  Elizabeth's  religious  policy  has  much 
direct  evidence  in  its  support,  apart  from  that  of  her 
public  actions  which  it  alone  explains.  The  latter,  of 
course,  were  matters  of  common  knowledge ;  but  many 
facts  relating  to  her  private  opinions  and  negotiations 
were  unknown  even  to  her  council,  and  of  many  others 
the  writers  of  her  time  were  ignorant.  Hence  they,  and 
the  historians  who  have  followed  in  their  track,  often 
thought  her  vacillating  when  she  was  really  constant 
to  one  purpose.  Froude  first  spread  before  the  public 
many  of  the  letters  written  by  the  Spanish  ambassadors 
at  London  to  Philip  of  Spain,  which  give  to  his  history  of 
this  period  so  great  a  value.  These  Spaniards  were,  at 
times,  her  confidants,  and  their  accounts  of  her  private 
I.— 29 


450      THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

declarations  show  the  general  *  consistency  of  her  con- 
duct. Philip  himself,  with  all  his  means  of  informa- 
tion, always  believed  that  she  would  be  reconciled  with 
Kome.  Even  after  the  pope's  bull,  he  refused  to  recog- 
nize her  excommunication.* 

The  first  Parliament  which  met  after  her  accession 
enacted  laws  very  hostile  to  the  Catholics ;  but  she  was 
then  in  a  peculiar  position,  the  pope  having  refused  to 
recognize  her  title  to  the  throne.  The  next  year  she  told 
the  Spanish  ambassador  that  she  was  as  good  a  Catholic 
as  he  was,  and  that  she  had  been  compelled  to  act  as  she 
had  done.f  Froude,  on  the  authority  of  Cecil  and  Kil- 
ligrew,  thinks  that  she  was  then  wavering.;}:  In  1561, 
when  she  was  desirous  of  marrying  Dudley,  made  Earl 
of  Leicester  in  1564,  the  Spanish  ambassador  was  in- 
formed by  Sir  Henry  Sidney  that  if  the  marriage  could 
be  brought  about  through  the  influence  of  Philip,  the 
Catholic  religion  should  be  restored.  Undoubtedly,  Sid- 
ney spoke  with  the  authority  of  the  queen.  The  scheme 
fell  through  because  the  Catholic  nobles  would  not  con- 
sent to  a  marriage  with  a  man  whom  they  regarded  as 
an  upstart.il  In  1564,  Elizabeth  repeated  to  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  De  Silva,  what  she  had  said  about  religion 
to  his  predecessor.§  In  1566,  the  pope  offered  to  recog- 
nize the  legitimacy  of  Elizabeth,  by  reversing  the  former 
decree  relating  to  the  divorce  of  her  father,  if  she  would 
re-establish  the  Pomish  Church.  Thus  one  great  obsta- 
cle would  have  been  removed.     At  this  time  Parliament 


*  Froude,  vii.  13,  xi.  26.  f  Idem,  vii.  251.  J  Idem,  p.  253. 

II  Froude,  vii.  316.  It  was  the  continued  opposition  of  the  Catholic 
nobles  to  his  union  -with  the  queen  that  ultimately  led  Dudley  to  be- 
come a  prominent  friend  of  the  Puritans.     Froude,  ix.  181. 

§  Idem,  viii.  105, 


ELIZABETH  SHIELDS  THE  CATHOLICS,  PERSECUTES  THE  PURITANS  451 

was  anxious  to  make  further  reforms  in  the  Church. 
Under  the  advice  of  De  Silva,  Elizabeth  interfered,  and 
all  action  was  prevented.*  In  1573,  and  again  in  1578, 
she  told  the  Spanish  ambassador  that  she  held  the  Cath- 
olic creed  herself,  and  that  her  differences  with  her  Cath- 
olic subjects  were  merely  political.f  In  1576,  she  threat- 
ened to  make  war  on  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  this 
meant  ultimate  reconciliation  with  Rome.:}:  These  il- 
lustrations might  be  largely  multiplied.  It  may  be  said 
that  they  are  only  evidence  of  her  duplicity ;  but  they 
show  what  she  had  in  mind,  and  illuminate  her  public 
acts,  which,  read  in  their  light,  make  all  her  religious 
policy  consistent. 

Although  during  the  early  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign, 
before  the  appearance  of  the  Jesuits,  a  persecution  of 
the  Catholics  was  carried  on,  this  persecution,  it  must 
be  remembered,  was  mild  in  its  character,  and  due  to 
peculiar  circumstances.  The  Parliaments  w^ere  largely 
Puritan  in  inclination,  and  passed  laws  to  which,  at  first, 
perhaps  she  did  not  venture  to  refuse  assent — and  possi- 
bly they  were  her  own  suggestions — as,  the  pope  having 
denied  her  title  to  the  crown,  she  would  have  been  left 
without  any  party  in  the  State  unless  she  had  allied  her- 
self with  the  Reformers.  Later  on,  when  more  firmly 
seated  on  the  throne,  she  forbade  Parliament  to  interfere 
in  matters  of  rehgion,  and  barred  its  interference  by  fre- 
quent dissolutions.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  all 
the  opprobrium  of  enforcing  measures  of  severity  against 
the  Catholics  she  put  upon  the  members  of  her  council, 
who  believed  that  the  Protestantism  of  the  kingdom 
should  be  more  pronounced.  These  men  accepted  the 
responsibility,  for,  had  the  old  religion  been  re-estab- 


*  Froude,  viii.  339.  f  Idem,  xi.  34, 127.  |  Idem,  xi.  63. 


453        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

lished,  they,  as  well-known  Protestants,  would  have  been 
the  first  victims  of  the  reaction.  They  were  thus  consult- 
ing their  own  safety  as  well  as  what  they  considered  the 
public  welfare.* 

But  Elizabeth  could  always  say  with  plausibility  that 
she  had  been  forced  to  play  the  role  of  a  persecutor,  and 
that  her  heart  was  never  in  the  work.  Whenever  it  was 
consistent  with  her  own  safety,  she  showed  indulgence  to 
the  Catholics.  Thousands  of  the  old  priests  were  allowed 
to  remain  in  their  livings  by  an  outward  conformity  to 
the  ritual  of  the  Established  Church.  It  was  only  the 
practice  of  their  own  form  of  worship  which  was  pun- 
ishable by  law,  and  she  saw  to  it  that  the  laws  were,  as 
to  them,  never  pressed  beyond  the  letter. f  But  with  the 
Puritans  it  was  very  different.  They  claimed,  and  with 
apparent  justice,  that  the  laws  were  always  strained  for 
their  oppression,  not  by  the  civil  powers,  but  by  the 
queen  and  her  Ecclesiastical  Commission.  As  head  of  the 
Church,  Elizabeth  had  authority  to  change  the  ceremo- 
nial, within  certain  limits ;  but  she  never  used  her  power 
to  relieve  their  tender  consciences,  nor  would  she  con- 
sent that  they  should  have  relief  from  Parliament, 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  sagacious  statesmen  who  sur- 
rounded Elizabeth  believed  that  the  Reformation  in 
England  should  be  pressed  to  its  legitimate  conclusion. 
Merely  abjuring  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  and  chang- 
ing the  form  of  religion  by  statutory  enactment,  Avere, 
to  their  minds,  insufficient.  The  old  abuses  of  the  Church 


*  When  Philip  organized  the  Armada,  he  made  out  a  list  of  the 
English  statesmen  to  be  hanged  after  the  victory.     Troude,  xii.  148. 

t  Although  the  saying  of  mass  in  private  houses  was  forbidden 
by  law,  it  was  winked  at  for  twenty  years  after  Elizabeth's  accession. 
Froude,  xi.  360. 


CORRUPTION  IN  THE  CHURCH  453 

should  be  done  away  with,  the  all-prevailing  corruption 
should  be  rooted  out,  and,  to  accomplish  these  ends,  men 
of  high  character  and  of  unblemished  life  should  be  se- 
lected to  control  the  new  establishment,  l^o  such  coun- 
sels met  the  approval  of  the  queen.  She  wished  subservi- 
ent tools ;  and  if  her  bishops  were  men  whose  private 
or  official  conduct  could  not  bear  examination,  they 
would  be  the  more  readily  controlled,  and  the  more  easily 
turned  over  to  Rome.  A  few  illustrations  will  show 
their  character. 

Parker,  her  favorite  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  left 
an  enormous  fortune,  which  he  had  accumulated  during 
eighteen  years  of  office  by  the  most  wholesale  corrup- 
tion. Among  other  things,  he  established  a  fixed  tariff 
for  the  sale  of  benefices  in  his  gift,  regulated  according 
to  their  value  and  the  age  of  the  applicant.  The  sales 
were  not  confined  to  adults,  for  even  boys  under  four- 
teen were  allowed  to  become  purchasers,  provided  they 
would  pay  an  increased  price.*  At  about  the  time  of 
Parker's  death,  in  1576,  Hatton,  the  new  favorite  of  the 
queen,  cast  longing  eyes  upon  some  property  belonging  to 
the  Bishop  of  Ely.  That  prelate  refused  to  give  it  up, 
even  after  receiving  the  famous  letter  in  which  Eliza- 
beth, with  an  oath,  threatened  to  unfrock  him.  He  was 
brought  to  terms,  however,  by  a  summons  before  the 
Privy  Council,  and  a  notification  from  Lord  I^orth  of 
what  would  be  proved  against  him.  He  was  to  be 
charged,  so  the  queen  directed,  with  the  grossest  mal- 
versation in  office,  plundering  the  Church  lands,  selling 
the  lead  and  brick  from  its  houses,  dealing  dishonestly 
in  leases,  and  exacting  illegal  charges  from  the  ministers 
in  his  diocese.  This  threat  was  sufficient ;  the  bishop  suc- 


*  Froude,  xi.  100. 


454       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

cumbed,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  his  prosecution  or  re- 
moval.* 

Nor  were  these  cases  at  all  exceptional.  As  we  study 
the  records  of  the  time,  one  of  their  most  striking  feat- 
ures is  the  wide -spread  corruption  among  the  bishops 
of  the  Established  Church.  Liable  to  removal  or  sus- 
pension at  the  pleasure  of  the  crown,  they  took  care  to 
provide  for  themselves  and  their  families  by  selling  the 
church  timber,  making  long  leases  of  the  ecclesiastical 
lands,  and  in  every  possible  manner  despoiling  their 
sees  of  the  little  property  left  to  them  by  the  early  Ee- 
formers.f 


*  Froude,  xi.  22. 

t  The  following  are  a  few  illustrations  taken  from  Strype's  "  An- 
nals," the  writings  of  a  High-churchman,  which  bear  out  the  gen- 
eral statements  of  Hallam,  Froude,  and  others,  to  some  of  which  I 
have  referred  in  a  former  chapter.  In  1585,  Bishop  Scambler  was 
transferred  from  Peterborough  to  Norwich.  He  found  that  his  pre- 
decessor had  not  only  disposed  of  the  judicial  offices  of  the  see  by  a 
patent,  but  had  just  before  his  dejiarture  made  many  unprecedented 
leases  of  the  episcopal  property.  But  Scambler's  successor  in  Peter- 
borough found  that  the  same  thing  had  been  done  in  that  diocese, 
the  see  having  been  impoverished  by  spoliations.  The  same  year  wit- 
nessed the  death  of  the  Bishop  of  Chichester.  He  died  a  bankrupt, 
having  sold  off  the  church  timber  until  there  was  hardly  sufficient 
left  for  firewood.  These  cases  occurred  in  one  year,  and  are  men- 
tioned in  one  page  of  Strype's  "  Annals,"  iii.  331.  See  also  p.  467  for 
an  account  of  the  mode  in  which  the  "Welsh  bishoprics  were  "fleeced 
by  the  respective  bishops;"  also  p.  463,  as  to  the  see  of  Durham. 
The  bishop  of  the  latter  diocese  not  only  despoiled  the  church 
property,  but  was  controlled  by  a  brother,  his  chancellor,  "  a  bad 
man  addicted  to  covetousness  and  uncleanness.  He  was  to  be  bribed 
by  money  to  pass  over  crimes  presented  and  complained  of."  Ayl- 
mer.  Bishop  of  London,  cut  down  and  sold  his  timber  until  pre- 
vented by  an  injunction.  "  When  he  grew  old,  and  reflected  that 
a  large  sum  of  money  would  be  due  from  his  family  for  dilapida- 


now    THE   BISHOPS   OBTAINED    THEIR   OFFICES  455 

In  1585,  when  six  bislioprics  were  vacant,  a  corre- 
spondence passed  between  Lord  Burghley  and  Whitgift, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  which  shows  the  general 
character  of  the  men  whom  Elizabeth  selected  for 
ecclesiastical  preferment.  Says  the  Lord  Treasurer: 
"  There  are  to  be  new  bishops  placed  in  the  six  vacant 
chairs.  I  wish — but  I  cannot  hope  it — that  the  Church 
may  take  that  good  thereby  that  it  hath  need  of.  Your 
Grace  must  pardon  me ;  for  I  see  such  worldliness  in 
many  that  were  otherwise  affected  before  they  came 
to  cathedral  churches,  that  I  fear  the  places  alter  the 
men,"  To  which  Whitgift  replied:  "  It  is  not  the  chair 
that  maketh  the  alteration,  if  any  there  be,  but  the  un- 
lawful means  of  coining  by  it. ...  I  doubt  not  but  as  good 
men,  even  at  this  day,  possess  some  of  these  chairs  as 
ever  did  in  any  age  ;  although  I  will  not  justify  all,  nor 
yet  many  of  them,"*  Bishops  who  had  bought  their 
seats,  as  is  here  plainly  intimated,  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  refrain  from  repaying  themselves  by  plunder- 
ing their  sees.  Had  Elizabeth  been  actuated  by  a  de- 
sire to  bring  the  Established  Church  into  contempt,  so 
that  its  downfall  would  be  mourned  by  no  one,  she 
certainly  could  have  chosen  no  better  mode  of  accom- 
plishing her  purpose  than  that  of  selecting  such  men  to 
represent  its  principles,! 


tions  of  the  palace  at  Fulham,  etc.,  he  actually  proposed  to  sell  his 
bishopric  to  Bancroft  (Strype's  '  Aylmer,'  p.  169).  The  latter,  how- 
evei',  waited  for  his  death,  and  had  over  £4000  awarded  to  him ;  but 
the  crafty  old  man  having  laid  out  his  money  in  land,  this  sum  was 
never  paid." — Hallam,  i.  206.  At  this  time  land  in  England  could 
not  be  taken  for  debt. 

*  Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  pp.  171, 172.  No  one  who  knows  anything  of 
Whitgift's  character  would  ever  suspect  him  of  libelling  the  Church. 

t  During  the  session  of  Parliament,  in  1581,  when  the  nation  was 


456        THE   PUKITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

But,  after  all,  the  bishops  were  simply  following  the 
lessons  taught  them  by  the  queen.  She  was  the  great 
despoiler  of  the  Church.  All  through  her  reign,  we 
find  her  not  only  demanding  from  the  bishops  the  sur- 
render of  portions  of  the  property  of  their  sees  for  the 
benefit  of  some  needy  favorite — and  she  thus  robbed 
even  the  universities  themselves"" — but  she  issued  nu- 
merous commissions,  under  which  keen  and  unscrupu- 
lous adventurers  sought  out  flaws  in  ecclesiastical  titles, 
recovering  the  property  for  the  crown  and  receiving  as 
their  compensation  a  portion  of  the  spoils,  f  Besides 
this,  although  the  regular  revenues  of  the  sees  were  very 
small,  averaging  only  about  a  thousand  pounds  per  an- 
num, they  were  so  diminished  by  the  exactions  of  the 
queen  and  her  courtiers,  that  in  many  cases  the  incum- 
bents, without  dishonesty,  would  have  found  it  impos- 
sible to  live.  One  illustration  of  the  extent  of  these 
exactions  will  suffice  to  show  their  character.  In  1583, 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  held  one  of  the  richest 
sees  in  the  kingdom,  was  complained  of  for  spending 
so  little  money  as  to  bring  his  office  into  disrepute.  In 
answer  to  the  charge  he  sent  Lord  Burghley  a  state- 
ment showing  his  income  and  expenditures.  His  net 
income  was  about  £2800.  Of  this  he  paid  to  the  queen, 
in  first-fruits,  tenths,  subsidies,  and  benevolences,  about 
£1900 ;  to  Leicester,  £100 ;  in  annuities  granted  by  his 
predecessors,  "  wherein  Sir  Francis  Walsingham's  fee 
is  contained,"  £218 ;  leaving  for  himself,  after  paying 


alarmed  by  the  Catholic  revival  which  the  Jesuits  had  awakened, 
one  member  gave  voice  to  the  public  opinion  in  saying :  "  Were 
there  any  honesty  in  these  prelates,  in  whom  honesty  should  most  be 
found,  we  should  not  be  in  our  present  trouble." — Froude,  xi.  360. 
*  Strype,  iii.  54.  f  Idem,  jMssim. 


ILLITERACY  OF   THE    CLERGY  457 

salaries  and  alms  to  the  poor,  just  one  seventh  of  the 
net  income.*  This  system  was  almost  as  profitable  to 
the  queen  as  the  one  under  which  she  kept  a  diocese 
vacant  for  years,  receiving  all  the  income.f 

But  there  was  something  more  than  corruption  in 
the  Church.  The  mass  of  the  clergy  were  so  illiterate 
that,  even  had  they  been  pure  of  life,  they  could  have 
done  little  to  elevate  the  people  or  win  respect  for  the 
new  establishment.  This  evil,  too,  was  felt  in  its  full 
force  by  the  statesmen  who  tried  in  vain  to  influence 
the  queen.     They  realized  the  fact  that  Protestantism 


*  Strype,  iii.  Appendix,  p.  58. 

t  She  thus  kept  the  diocese  of  Ely  vacant  for  eighteen  years  after 
the  death  of  Cox.  Hall,  p.  117.  Strype,  in  tliis  connection,  gives  a 
curious  letter  written  to  the  queen  by  Sir  John  Puckering,  the  Lord 
Keeper — that  is,  the  acting  Chancellor — which  shows  liow  bishoprics 
and  their  property  were  disposed  of.  Sir  John  desired  a  lease  of 
some  land  belonging  to  the  vacant  bishopric  of  Ely,  and  proposed, 
about  1595,  that  the  office  should  be  filled  in  order  to  carry  out  his 
wishes.  The  lease,  he  said,  would  benefit  him,  without  expense  to 
her  majesty,  since  the  property  did  not  belong  to  the  crown.  As 
to  filling  the  see,  altliough  she  would  thereby  lose  the  income,  this 
would  be  made  up  from  first-fruits,  tenths,  and  subsidies ;  which, 
if  an  old  man  were  selected  for  the  place,  would  soon  be  payable 
again.  In  addition,  by  changing  around  some  of  the  other  old 
bishops,  she  could  make  a  profit  of  several  thousand  pounds. 
Strype,  iv.  247.  Under  a  statute  passed  in  the  first  year  of  her 
reign,  to  which  reference  has  been  made  before  (see  p.  433),  every 
bishop  and  every  clergyman  paid  the  queen  at  once,  or  in  two 
or  three  annual  payments,  a  sum  equal  to  a  year's  income  on 
his  first  appointment  to  a  charge.  These  payments,  called  first- 
fruits,  became  due  again  on  every  change  of  diocese  or  parish,  and 
to  them  was  added  a  tenth  of  the  annual  income  thereafter.  The 
system  had,  therefore,  a  money  value  to  the  crown,  which  was  per- 
haps no  small  recommendation  in  the  eyes  of  a  frugal  monarch  like 
Elizabeth. 


458       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

must  ultimately  rest  on  general  intelligence,  and  that 
the  so-called  reformation  of  the  Church  would  prove  an 
illusive  snare,  unless  the  people  were  taught  to  under- 
stand its  meaning.  But  to  do  this  teachers  were  needed 
very  different  from  those  who  occupied  the  English  pul- 
pits. It  was  this  conviction  that  led  men  like  Burghley 
and  Bacon,  perhaps  having  little  religion  themselves,  to 
advocate  the  cause  of  the  Puritans. 

The  English  Puritans,  like  their  brethren  in  Holland 
and  Scotland,  believed  in  education,  and  it  is  their  crown- 
ing glory.  They  might  be  narrow-minded  and  intoler- 
ant; had  they  been  otherwise,  they  would  have  been  false 
to  their  age  and  race.  But  wherever  we  find  them,  either 
•in  England  or  America,  we  find  in  their  possession  the 
school-book  and  the  Bible.  They  wished,  and  they  final- 
ly insisted,  that  others  should  believe  as  they  did,  for  they 
could  not  conceive  that  any  other  belief  was  possible. 
They  did  not,  however,  desire  a  blind  acceptance ;  they 
demanded  a  conscientious  conviction  of  the  truth,  found- 
ed on  a  knowledge  of  their  doctrines.  Education,  there- 
fore, was  their  watchword.  If  you  would  get  rid  of 
the  tares  and  have  a  crop,  you  must  plough  up  the 
ground  and  sow  your  seed.  The  religious  crop  which 
the  present  generation  is  reaping  would  surprise  these 
men  of  three  centuries  ago ;  but  even  the  most  radical 
thinker  of  to-day  must  give  them  credit  for  insisting  on 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 

But  it  was  not  the  Puritans  alone  who,  in  the  time 
of  EHzabeth,  desired  religious  instruction  for  the  people. 
All  the  churchmen  who  were  earnest  in  their  belief 
felt  the  same  desire.  They  argued  that  the  true  mode 
of  extirpating  popery,  then  the  vital  question  for  the 
nation,  was  by  showing  up  its  errors.  They  therefore 
advocated  the  general  preaching  and  discussion  of  the 


ELIZABETH   OPPOSES   RELIGIOUS   INSTRUCTION  459 

doctrines  of  the  Eeformation.*  The  queen,  however, 
would  have  no  such  preaching  or  discussion.  If  we  can 
judge  from  her  actions,  she  wished  for  no  new  crop,  but 
desired  that  the  old  tares  should  go  to  seed.  She  en- 
couraged the  study  of  the  classics,  she  gave  some  little 
countenance  to  poetry ;  but  of  the  education  of  the 
masses,  or  of  the  discussion  of  religious  questions,  she 
entirely  disapproved. 

"Was  this  sagacity  on  her  part,  such  as  some  historians 
have  attributed  to  her,  surpassing  that  of  the  ablest 
statesmen  and  most  earnest  churchmen  of  her  times  ? 
Was  it  from  any  love  of  the  Reformation  that  she  de- 
sired to  keep  the  people  ignorant  of  rehgious  truths  ?  It 
has  been  said  that  she  did  not  wish  to  stir  up  a  religious 
turmoil,  that  she  feared  its  effects  upon  her  Catholic 
subjects,  and  that  she  desired  to  give  the  people  time  to 
forget  the  old  faith  and  accustom  themselves  to  the  new 
belief.  Does  this  explain  her  conduct  ?  There  might 
be  something  in  such  a  theory  had  she  filled  the  minis- 
try with  men  of  even  reputable  lives.  But  nothing  is 
left  of  it  when  Ave  recall  the  character  of  the  clergy 
during  the  first  half  of  her  reign.  Bakers,  butchers, 
cooks,  and  stablemen,  wholly  illiterate,  drunken  and 
licentious,t  seem  hardly  fitting  instruments  for  advanc- 
ing such  a  broad-minded  religious  policy.  In  fact,  they 
alienated  the  few  earnest  old  Catholics,  instead  of  rec- 
onciling them  to  the  new  establishment. 

One  thing  is  very  clear.  Elizabeth  understood  fuU 
well  the  effects  of  educating  a  people  in  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation.  In  1578,  Philip  of  Spain  offered  to 
his  rebellious  subjects  in  the  ^Netherlands  the  fuU  resto- 
ration of  their  civil  rights  provided  they  would  return  to 


*  Hallam,  i.  200.  +  Idem,  i.  203.     Nathan  Drake,  p.  44. 


460        THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

the  Church  of  Rome.  The  English  queen  used  all  her 
influence  to  have  these  overtures  accepted.  She  prom- 
ised, cajoled,  and  threatened,  but  all  in  vain.  The  relig- 
ious question,  which  she  pronounced  of  no  importance, 
proved  an  insuperable  obstacle.  Walsingham,  one  of 
her  wisest  advisers,  writing  at  this  time  to  Burghley,  said 
in  regard  to  the  Protestants  of  the  Low  Countries :  "  That 
which  her  majesty  seems  most  to  mislike  of,  which  is 
the  progress  of  religion  being  well  considered,  is  the 
thing  which  shall  breed  their  greatest  strength."  *  But 
for  their  intense  Protestantism,  it  would  have  been  easy 
enough  to  turn  the  Hollanders  back  to  peace  and  Moth- 
er Church.  The  queen  disliked  it,  for  the  very  reason 
which  recommended  it  to  Walsingham,  that  it  stood  in 
the  way  of  reconciliation  with  the  pope.  "When,  in  op- 
position to  the  counsels  of  all  the  men  about  her,  whose 
patriotism  and  wisdom  are  undisputed,  she  persistent- 
ly sought  to  suppress  the  growth  of  a  corresponding 
spirit  in  England,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
we  have  here  the  leading  motive  which  controlled  her 
policy  ? 

Although  Elizabeth  found  little  sympathy  from  her 
council  in  the  persecutions  which  she  and  her  archbishop 
were  carrying  on  against  the  Puritans,  she  had  always 
one  person  to  spur  her  on.  This  was  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador, with  whom  her  relations  for  many  years  were 
of  the  most  intimate  character.  He  had  no  fear  of  the 
emasculated  Protestantism  which  he  saw  represented  in 
the  Established  Church  ;  what  he  dreaded,  for  the  cause 
of  Rome  and  Spain,  was  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the 
Puritans. 

Writing  to  Philip  in  1568,  he  said :  "  Those  who  call 

*  Froude,  xi.  127. 


THE    SPANISH   ADVISEES   OF   ELIZABETH  461 

themselves  of  the  religio  pu7'issima  go  on  increasing. 
They  are  the  same  as  Calvinists,  and  they  are  styled 
Puritans  because  they  allow  no  ceremonies  nor  any 
forms  save  those  which  are  authorized  by  the  bare  letter 
of  the  Gospel.  They  will  not  come  to  the  churches 
which  are  used  by  the  rest,  nor  will  they  aUow  their 
minister  to  wear  any  marked  or  separate  dress.  Some 
of  them  have  been  taken  up,  but  they  have  no  fear  of 
prison,  and  offer  themselves  to  arrest  of  their  own  ac- 
cord." The  Protestants  of  England,  he  went  on  to  say, 
were  of  many  opinions,  being  unable  to  agree  on  any 
point.  There  was  their  folly,  if  they  only  saw  it.  He 
suspected  that  a  party  in  the  council  would  like  to  bring 
the  queen  over  to  their  mind,  so  that  all  the  Protestants 
in  the  kingdom  might  be  united.  If  agreed,  it  would 
give  them  strength  both  at  home  and  abroad.  This  he 
regarded  as  "a  serious  misfortune,"  and  he  therefore  had 
warned  the  queen  against  these  "libertines,"  pointing 
out  the  danger  from  them  to  herself  and  princes  gener- 
ally. "  Libertines  I  called  them,  for  revolt  against  au- 
thority in  all  forms  is  their  true  principle."  She  had 
been  advised,  he  said,  to  give  up  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg— Lutheranism — and  take  to  this  other  form,  but  he 
urged  her  not  to  be  misled.* 

This  advice  Avas  very  sound  from  a  Spanish  stand- 
point ;  but,  although  the  queen  accepted  and  acted  on  it, 
one  may  well  doubt  whether  the  national  enemy  was 
the  wisest  counsellor  for  England. 

Fortunate  it  was  for  Elizabeth  that  these  "  libertines," 
as  the  Spaniard  called  them,  were  cast  in  an  heroic  mould. 
They  might  be  harried  from  their  homes  and  reduced  to 
poverty ;  they  might  be  consigned  to  prison,  to  the  rack, 


*  De  Silva  to  Philip,  July  3cl,  1568,  Froude,  ix.  337. 


463        THE    PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    A^IERICA 

or  to  the  gallows ;  but,  whatever  their  individual  wrongs, 
nothing  could  ever  impel  them  to  give  aid  to  their  coun- 
try's foe,  nor,  while  the  Reformed  religion  was  in  danger, 
drive  them  into  rebellion  against  the  Protestant  monarch 
of  a  Protestant  State. 

The  year  1570  marks  the  close  of  the  first  distinct  pe- 
riod in  the  history  of  English  Puritanism.  Elizabeth 
had  now  been  eleven  years  upon  the  throne.  During 
all  that  time  the  earnest  men  who  desired  a  simpler  form 
of  worship  had  sought  it  within  the  Established  Church. 
They  had  not  questioned  the  supremacy  of  the  queen, 
nor  the  authority  of  the  bishops  in  rehgious  matters ;  all 
that  they  asked  for  was  liberty,  in  their  parishes,  to  dis- 
pense with  the  wearing  of  vestments  and  the  practice 
of  ceremonies  which  they  considered  sinful.  This  had 
been  denied  them.  They  next  sought  to  worship  in  a 
mode  which  they  considered  Scriptural,  peaceably  in  sep- 
arate congregations,  and  these  had  been  broken  up  by 
force,  the  worshippers  being  visited  by  the  punishment 
reserved  for  felons.  It  would  have  been  strange,  indeed, 
if  at  length  some  bold  minds  had  not  begun  to  question 
the  system  which,  calling  itself  Protestant,  bore  such 
fruits. 

Others  there  probably  were  before  his  time,  but  the 
man  whose  figure  stands  out  most  boldly  on  the  historic 
page,  as  marking  this  new  departure,  was  Thomas  Cart- 
wright,  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Cambridge. 
He  had  entered  that  university  in  1550  ;  during  the 
Marian  persecution  he  left  it  to  study  law  in  London, 
and  returning  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  had  been 
made  a  fellow.  Sickened  for  a  time  with  English  the- 
ology, he  went  over  to  Geneva  in  1564,  and  drank  in  the 
air  of  pure  Calvinism.  Returning  to  Cambridge,  which 
inclined  to  Puritanism,  he  had  been  made  professor  of 


CARTWKIGHT    AND    UIS    PEOPOSED    IIEF01{MS  463 

divinity.  He  was  now,  although  but  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  a  profound  scholar,  and,  what  was  more,  a  man 
of  genius ;  narrow-minded  in  some  directions,  but  with 
the  ability,  within  his  limitations,  to  see  straight  and  think 
clear,  and  with  the  courage  to  express  his  convictions. 

To  his  mind,  the  time  had  come  to  throw  off  shams, 
and  denounce  the  intrinsic  falsity  as  well  as  the  inci- 
dental corruption  of  the  religious  machinery  which  he 
saw  around  him.  The  farce  should  be  done  away  with 
of  selecting  bishops  through  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  but  always  at  the  dictation  of  the  queen.*  The 
title  bishop  might  be  retained,  Cartwright  thought, 
but  he  should  be  reduced  to  his  apostolic  function  of 
preaching  the  Gospel,  while  the  deacon  took  care  of 
the  poor ;  both,  however,  to  be  selected  by  the  Church, 
and  not  by  the  civil  authorities.     Ministers  or  bishops 


*  The  system  which  Cartwright  denounced  and  ridiculed  three 
centuries  ago  still  prevails  in  England.  "When  a  bishop  is  to  be 
chosen,  the  deans  and  prebends  of  the  cathedral  meet  to  fill  the 
vacancy,  under  an  authorization  from  the  queen,  which,  however, 
names  the  person  to  be  selected.  They  enter  upon  their  work  with 
grave  religious  ceremonies,  solemnly  beseeching  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
aid  them  in  their  choice.  Prayers  being  concluded,  it  is  invariably 
found  that  under  a  spiritual  guidance  they  have  selected  the  person 
named  in  their  conge  d''eUre.  Emerson's  "English  Traits,"  chap. 
"Religion."  One  can  understand  the  theory  of  the  papacy,  where 
the  pope,  as  successor  of  St.  Peter,  claims  a  divine  authority  to  name 
bishops ;  but  the  practice  of  the  English  Church  would  be  ludicrous 
but  for  its  element  of  blasphemy.  Under  the  papal  system  the  Al- 
mighty is  supposed  to  make  selections  through  his  representative 
the  pope ;  under  the  English  system,  the  queen  makes  the  selection 
through  the  Almighty,  who  is,  in  theory,  her  agent  and  subordinate. 
Among  a  jjeople  possessing  strong  religious  convictions,  or  even  en- 
dowed with  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  such  a  mummery  would  be  im- 
possible.    See  also  Froude,  xii.  578. 


464       THE    PUKITAN  IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMEUICA 

should  not  be  licensed  to  preach  anywhere,  but  each 
should  have  charge  of  a  particular  congregation.  Fi- 
nally, every  church  should  be  governed  by  its  own  min- 
ister and  presbyters,  but  subject  to  the  opinions  of  the 
other  churches  with  which  it  communicated.* 

Here  were  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  an  organization  much  at  variance  with  the  Eng- 
lish establishment.  Still,  Cartwright  at  first  taught  tliem 
with  caution  and  moderation,  lecturing  only  to  his  class- 
es in  divinity,  and  counselling  no  open  schism.  When 
complained  of  to  the  court,  Cecil  wrote  back  that  he 
saw  nothing  improper  in  his  conduct,  the  professor 
appearing  simply  to  have  been  giving  to  his  pupils  the 
results  of  his  own  studies  of  the  'New  Testament.f 

But  Cartwright's  offence  went  far  beyond  an  attack 
upon  the  theoretical  organization  of  the  Church.  He 
openly  assailed  its  glaring  abuses,  and  that  w^as  unpar- 
donable. Pluralities  and  non-residences  he  denounced 
as  impious,  and  the  Spiritual  Courts  "  as  damnable,  dev- 
ilish, and  detestable."  "  Poor  men,"  he  said,  "  did  toil 
and  travel,  and  princes  and  doctors  licked  up  all."  He 
maintained  that  "those  who  held  offices  should  do  the 
duties  of  those  offices ;  that  high  places  in  the  common- 
w^ealth  belonged  to  merit,  and  that  those  who  without 
merit  were  introduced  into  authority  were  thieves  and 
robbers."  The  heads  of  the  Houses  at  Cambridge  could 
not  stand  his  lectures,  and  he  was  suspended  from  his 
professorship.  Still,  the  pulpit  was  open  to  him,  and 
there  his  influence  became  greater  than  before.  The 
students  flocked  to  hear  his  sermons,  and  w^ere  carried 
away  by  his  eloquence.     One  day  he  preached  against 


*  Briggs's  "  American  Presbyterianism,"  p.  41,  and  Appendix,  j).  1. 
t  Froude,  x.  116. 


CARTVVRIGHT'S   DEFECTS,  VIRTUES,  AND   INFLUENCE  465 

the  vestments,  the  next  day  all  but  three  of  the  Trinity 
students  appeared  without  the  surplice.  This  was  too 
much.  He  was  now,  being  deprived  of  his  fellowship, 
expelled  from  the  university,  and  in  1574  fled  to  the 
Continent,  to  escape  imprisonment,  remaining  there 
until  1585. 

In  later  years,  when  mellowed  by  time  and  affected 
by  a  long  residence  in  the  Netherlands,  Cartwright  put 
off  much  of  his  early  acerbity  of  speech.  But  it  is  prob- 
ably true  that  at  this  period  he  developed  an  intolerance 
equal  to  that  which  he  encountered.  He  resented  what 
he  thought  was  persecution,  and  waged  with  his  per- 
secutors a  war  of  pamphlets,  in  ^vhich  the  language, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  was  far  from  apos- 
tolic. Heresy  he  would  have  punished  with  death,  for 
the  Bible,  as  he  read  it,  so  commanded.  Had  his  sj^s- 
tem  been  carried  out  to  its  logical  conclusions,  the  coun- 
try would  have  groaned  under  an  ecclesiastical  instead 
of  a  civil  tyranny,  for  he  claimed  that  the  Church  should 
rule  the  State.  But  his  defects  were  those  of  his  age 
and  race ;  his  earnestness,  his  purity  of  life,  hatred  of 
wrong-doing,  contempt  of  wealth,  and  courage  of  con- 
viction were  all  his  own,  and  those  of  the  stern  men  of 
thought  and  action  who  were  in  time  to  give  a  new  life 
to  England. 

The  teachings  of  the  eloquent  Cambridge  professor 
mark  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  English  Puritanism ;  but 
they  were  not  generally  accepted,  and,  in  fact,  bore  fruit 
quite  slowly.""  The  Reformers  still  clung  to  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  and  tried  to  do  their  work  under  its  shad- 
ows.f     Expelled  from  their  livings  for  nonconformity, 

*  Green  lays  too  much  stress  upon  them  in  excusing  the  acts  of 
Elizabeth. 

t  Cartwright  himself  was  always  opposed  to  any  separation  from 
I.— 30 


466        THE   PURITAN    IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

they  obtained  employment  as  preachers  from  the  reg- 
ular incumbents,  too  lazy  or  too  ignorant  to  preach 
themselves,  or  they  took  refuge  in  the  families  of  the 
country  squires,  where,  as  teachers,  they  exercised  a  pow- 
erful and  lasting  influence.  The  upper  classes  among 
the  laity  who  cared  anything  about  religion  were,  in 
the  main,  divided  between  the  adherents  of  the  old  faith 
and  those  who,  siding,  with  the  Puritans,  wished  the 
Reformation  to  be  carried  further.*  Catholics  being 
forbidden  by  law  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
Puritans  had  a  majority  in  that  body  during  the  whole 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  but  for  the  overwhelming  influ- 
ence of  the  crown  would  have  introduced  great  reforms 
in  the  Established  Church. 

In  1571,  they  presented  an  address  to  the  queen,  point- 
ing out  some  of  the  glaring  abuses  which  ought  to  be 
corrected.  They  said :  "  Great  numbers  are  admitted 
ministers  that  are  infamous  in  their  lives,  and  among 
those  that  are  of  ability  their  gifts  in  many  places  are 
useless  by  reason  of  pluralities  and  non-residency,  where- 
by infinite  numbers  of  your  majesty's  subjects  are  lilie 
to  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge.  By  means  of  this,  to- 
gether with  the  common  blasphemy  of  the  Lord's  name, 
the  most  wicked  licentiousness  of  life,  the  abuse  of  ex- 
communication, the  commutation  of  penance,  the  great 
number  of  atheists,  schismatics  daily  springing  up,  and 
the  increase  of  papists,  the  Protestant  religion  is  in  im- 
minent peril."  f  But  Elizabeth  was  unmoved.  She  did 
not  believe  in  freedom  of  speech  upon  any  subject.  She 
lectured  her  Parliaments  for  discussing  religious  ques- 


tlie  establishment.     He  believed  in  controlling,  and  not  leaving  it 
as  the  Brownists  did.     Briggs,  p.  43. 

*  Hallam,  i.  193.  t  Neal. 


FUTILE    ATTEMPTS    TO    EDUCATE    THE    CLERGY  467 

tions,  which  she,  as  head  of  the  Church,  should  alone 
decide,  and  usually  managed  to  stifle  debate  in  the  Lower 
House,  by  imprisoning  the  recalcitrant  members,  or  to 
throttle  legislation  through  the  lords  and  bishops. 

"We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  pages  something  of 
the  ignorance  which  prevailed  among  the  regular  clergy. 
It  is  creditable  to  several  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church 
that,  about  1571,  a  movement  was  started  to  correct 
this  evil.  This  was  a  religious  exercise  called  "proph- 
esying." The  clergy  of  a  diocese  were  divided  into 
classes  or  associations,  under  a  moderator  appointed  by 
the  bishop,  and  met  once  a  fortnight  to  discuss  particu- 
lar texts  of  Scripture.  A  sermon  was  first  preached,  to 
which  the  public  were  admitted,  and  after  their  disper- 
sion the  members  of  the  association  debated  the  subject, 
the  moderator  finally  summing  up  their  arguments  and 
pronouncing  his  determination.  Such  an  exercise,  at  a 
time  when  books  were  few  and  costly  and  learning  was 
at  a  very  low  ebb,  might  have  been  productive  of  much 
good.  It  began  in  JSTorwich,  next  to  London  the  fore- 
most stronghold  of  Puritanism,  and  rapidly  extended 
through  the  kingdom.  But  Parker,  the  archbishop,  told 
the  queen  that  these  associations,  where  the  chief  top- 
ics discussed  were  the  errors  of  papacy  and  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation,  were  no  better  than  semina- 
ries of  Puritanism.  He  argued  that  the  more  opposed 
the  people  were  to  the  papacy  the  more  they  would 
incline  to  the  non-conformists,  and  that  these  exercises 
tended  to  make  them  so  inquisitive  that  they  would  not 
submit  to  the  orders  of  their  superiors  as  they  should.* 
These  arguments  met  the  cordial  approval  of  the  queen, 
who  gave  stringent  orders  that  the  prophesying  should 


*  Neal ;  Hallara,  i.  200. 


468       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

be  suppressed.  It  took  several  years  to  put  it  down 
completely,  for  some  of  the  bishops  made  a  stout  resist- 
ance ;  but  the  queen  triumphed  in  the  end,  her  clergy 
being  left  as  ignorant  as  she  could  well  desire.* 

Meantime,  the  work  of  weeding  out  the  Puritans  went 
on  more  vigorously  than  ever.  Their  books  were  sup- 
pressed, their  preachers  silenced,  their  private  meetings 
broken  up,  and  even  plain  citizens  for  listening  to  their 
sermons  were  dragged  before  the  High  Commission  upon 
any  refusal  to  conform.f  These  were  the  severities  prac- 
tised upon  those  who,  agreeing  with  the  Church  authori- 
ties in  matters  of  doctrine,  differed  from  them  only  upon 
questions  of  form.  For  out-and-out  heretics,  those  who 
denied  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  a  different  fate  was 
reserved. 

"We  have  seen  how  William  of  Orange  protected  the 
Anabaptists  of  Holland  when  some  of  the  men  about 
him  would  have  refused  them  civil  rights.  About  15Y5, 
twenty-seven  of  this  sect,  refugees  from  the  Continent, 


*  Hallam,  i.  201,  203;  Neal.  Even  Strype,  who  attempts  to  jus- 
tify everything  done  by  Elizabeth,  admits  the  benefits  derived  from 
prophesying.  He  says :  "  This  -^'as  practised,  to  the  great  benefit 
and  improvement  of  the  clergy,  many  of  whom  in  those  times  were 
ignorant,  both  in  Scripture  and  divinity." — Strype's  "  Annals  of  the 
Keformation,"  ii.  313.  The  only  excuse  which  the  queen  ofiered  for 
suppressing  this  educational  system  was  that  it  had  been  abused  in 
the  diocese  of  Norwich,  by  the  discussion  of  ceremonial  questions. 
But  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  showed  that  this  charge  was  unfounded. 
Idem.  It  is  a  fact  not  Avithout  interest  that  Cornwall,  the  county  in 
which,  according  to  Neal,  not  a  minister  could  preach  a  sermon, 
furnished  to  Parliament  the  two  brothers  Paul  and  Peter  Went- 
worth,  who  throughout  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  stood  up,  almost  alone, 
for  freedom  of  speech  in  religious  matters.  They  appreciated  fully 
the  results  of  the  royal  policy, 
t  HaUam,  i.  197. 


ANABAPTISTS   BUENED   AT   THE   STAKE— 1575  469 

were  apprehended  in  a  private  house  in  London,  where 
they  had  assembled  for  worship.  Tried  before  the  Bish- 
ops' Court  for  heresy,  in  holding  blasphemous  opinions  as 
to  the  nature  of  Christ's  body — believing  that  he  brought 
it  with  him  from  heaven — four  recanted,  but  eleven  of 
the  number  w^ere  convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  burned. 
One  of  these,  a  w^oman,  gave  way  and  was  pardoned, 
and  nine  of  the  others  had  their  sentences  commuted  to 
perpetual  banishment.  The  eleventh,  with  one  of  the 
first  four  who  had  relapsed,  was  reserved  for  the  stake. 
Great  efforts  were  made  to  save  their  lives,  every  one 
admitting  their  inoffensiveness.  The  Dutch  congrega- 
tion interceded  for  them,  and  Foxe,  the  martyrologist, 
petitioned  the  queen  in  their  behalf.  But  Elizabeth  had 
for  the  time  made  friends  with  Spain,  and  was  bent  on 
showing  that  she  had  no  sympathy  with  heresy.  An  ex- 
ample was  needed  to  show  her  sincerity,  and  she  proved 
inexorable.  On  the  22d  of  July,  1575,  the  two  unhappy 
foreigners,  who  had  sought  England  as  an  asylum  from 
persecution,  and  whose  only  imputed  crime  was  an  error 
of  theological  belief,  were  publicly  burned  alive,  min- 
gling their  ashes  with  those  of  the  many  other  martyrs 
who  have  made  the  soil  of  Smithfield  sacred  ground."'^ 

In  the  year  which  witnessed  this  tragedy,  Parker,  the 
persecuting  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Grindal,  a  man  of  a  very  different  type. 
He  was  not  unfriendly  to  the  Puritans,  and  was  an  ear- 
nest believer  in  the  education  of  the  clergy,  and  in  sup- 
plying the  pulpits  with  men  capable  of  preaching.  But 
his  actual  rule  was  very  brief.  The  queen  strenuously 
objected  to  his  encouragement  of  prophesying,  as  well  as 
to  the  number  of  preaching  ministers  whom  he  licensed, 


*  Neal,  p.  186  ;  Froude,  xi.  43. 


470         THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

and,  upon  his  refusing  to  give  way,  suspended  Mm  from 
office,  the  suspension  lasting  until  shortly  before  his 
death,  in  1583.*  Owing  partly  to  his  influence,  partly 
to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  old  non-conforming  clergy 
had  been  silenced,  and  perhaps  still  more  to  fears  incited 
by  the  Jesuits,  who  about  this  time  began  their  active 
campaign  in  England,  the  Puritans  seem  to  have  been 
but  little  disturbed  for  several  years,  although,  in  1581, 
some  acts  were  passed  by  Parhament  which,  aimed  pri- 
marily at  the  Catholics,  bore  heavily  upon  the  non-con- 
formists in  later  days.f 

But  upon  the  death  of  Grindal  a  prelate  took  his  place 
who  was  well  qualified  to  carry  out  all  the  wishes  of  the 
queen.  This  was  John  Whitgift,  a  man  Avho  did  more 
to  develop  the  aggressive  Puritanism  of  later  years,  with 
its  outgrowth  of  independent  sects,  than  any  other  per- 
son except  Elizabeth  herself.  Whitgift  had  been  Master 
of  Trinity  College  when  Cartwright  was  its  Professor  of 
Divinity.  He  was  ignorant,  probably  not  even  know- 
ing Greek ;  :|:  was  as  narrow-minded  as  he  was  ignorant, 
but  full  of  zeal  for  the  establishment.  He  had  been 
chiefly  instrumental  in  driving  Cartwright  from  Cam- 
bridge, and  had  been  subsequently  distinguished  for 
some  violent  pamphlets  against  the  Puritans.  As  a  re- 
ward for  these  services  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Worces- 
ter. 'Now,  Elizabeth  had  determined  that,  while  "  she 
would  suppress  the  papistical  religion  so  that  it  should 


*  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  201.  In  the  opinion  of  Elizabeth,  two 
or  three  preachers  in  a  county  were  enough- 

t  One  of  these  acts  imposed  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds  per  month  for 
not  attending  the  Established  Church.  Another  made  it  felony, 
punishable  with  death,  to  libel  the  queen. 

I  Hallam's  "  Const.  Hist.,"  i.  203. 


ARCHBISHOP    WHITGIFT    TO    EOOT    OUT    PURITANISM  471 

not  grow,  she  would  root  out  Puritanism  and  the  favor- 
ers thereof."^  For  the  latter  purpose  she  could  have 
chosen  no  better  instrument  than  her  "  little  black  par- 
son," as  she  used  to  call  him.  f  As  for  the  Catholics, 
they  were  so  pleased  with  his  work  that  Throgmorton, 
who  was  executed  for  conspiracy  in  the  following  year, 
called  him  "  the  meetest  bishop  in  the  realm  ;"  and, 
about  the  same  time,  Mary  Stuart  exultingly  exclaimed  : 
"N'othing  is  lacking,  but  only  the  setting-up  of  the 
mass  again."  :j; 

"Whitgift  began  his  official  duties  with  great  vigor.  He 
was  appointed  archbishop  in  September,  1583 ;  in  Octo- 
ber he  issued  orders  for  the  enforcement  of  religious  dis- 
cipline throughout  the  realm.  One  of  these  orders  pro- 
hibited all  preaching,  reading,  or  catechising  in  private 
houses,  whereto  any  not  of  the  same  family  shall  resort, 
"  seeing  the  same  was  never  permitted  as  lawful  under 
any  Christian  magistrate."  As  all  public  gatherings  had 
been  suppressed  before,  it  was  now  intended  to  prevent 
the  assembling  of  neighbors  to  read  the  Bible  or  for  any 
religious  services.  This  order,  however,  was  aimed  only 
at  private  individuals ;  the  others  which  accompanied  it 
were  directed  at  the  clergy.  They  were  all  to  subscribe 
a   declaration,  in  writing,  that  the. Book  of  Common 


*  Strype's  "  Whitgift,  Annals,"  iv.  242.  "We  shall  see  in  later 
chapters  something  of  the  dangers  -which  at  this  particular  time 
threatened  England  from  abroad.  Thej^  served  to  arouse  the  cour- 
age of  the  nation  at  large,  but  seem  to  have  turned  the  thoughts  of 
Elizabeth  more  than  ever  to  the  idea  of  reconciliation  with  Rome. 
The  suppression  of  the  Puritans  was  a  necessary  step  in  this  direc- 
tion. 

t  Froude,  x.  116,  117  ;  Hallam,  i.  203. 

t  Robert  Beal,  Clerk  of  the  Council,  to  Whitgift,  May  7th,  1584; 
Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  App.  book  iii.  No.  6. 


472       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Prayer  contained  nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God, 
and  a  promise  that  they  would  use  its  Form  of  Prayer 
and  no  other ;  also  an  approval  of  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles, set  out  by  the  queen's  authority  in  1562,  and  a 
declaration  that  all  such  articles  were  agreeable  to  the 
Word  of  God.  In  addition,  it  was  provided  that  no  one 
should  exercise  ecclesiastical  functions  unless  he  had 
been  admitted  to  holy  orders  according  to  the  manner 
of  the  Church  of  England.* 

It  would  have  been  diificult  even  for  Whitgift,  in  his 
ignorance  of  law,  to  have  framed  a  document  more  full 
of  illegal  exactions  than  was  this.  The  statutes  of  the 
realm  required  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
but  did  not  require  any  such  declaration  or  promise  as  it 
demanded.  ISTeither  did  they  require  such  an  acceptance 
of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  When  a  bill  for  the  latter 
purpose  was  brought  into  Parliament,  it  was  amended  so 
as  to  provide  simply  for  a  subscription  to  "all  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Religion  which  only  concern  the  confession  of 
the  true  Christian  faith  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacra- 
ments." t  As  for  ordination  according  to  the  "  manner 
of  the  Church  of  England,"  the  very  statute  which  re- 
quired a  qualified  subscription  to  the  Articles  admitted, 
by  implication,  the  validity  of  other  ordination.  Hun- 
dreds of  old  priests  were  still  in  their  livings  who  had 
never  been  reordained,  and  many  Protestants  were 
preaching  who  had  been  ordained  only  in  Scotland  or 
upon  the  Continent.:}: 


*  Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  pp.  114,  117. 

t  13  Eliz.  cap.  xii.  sec.  1. 

I  The  -words  of  the  statute  are :  "  That  every  person,  under  the  de- 
gree of  bishop,  wlio  doth  or  shall  pretend  to  be  a  priest  or  minister 
of  God's  holy  Word  and  Sacraments,  by  reason  of  any  other  form  of 


HAREYING    THE    PURITANS  473 

The  primate  did  not  intend  by  these  orders  to  trouble 
the  Catholics :  they  could  be  reached  when  necessary  by 
special  statutes.  He  was  bent  on  rooting  out  the  Puri- 
tans, especially  those  who  had  been  ordained  abroad. 
Ministers  suspected  of  non-conforming  tendencies  were 
brought  before  him  and  the  other  bishops  by  the  score. 
They  offered  to  subscribe  to  the  Articles  and  to  the 
Prayer-book,  so  far  as  the  law  required  subscription. 
They  showed  that  the  Prayer-book  then  in  use  contained 
additions  not  ratified  by  Parliament ;  that  its  novel  state- 
ment that  "  children  being  baptized  have  all  things  nec- 
essary to  their  salvation,  and  be  undoubtedly  saved,"  was, 
in  their  opinion,  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  there- 
fore they  refused  to  say  the  contrary,  P)Ut  Whitgift 
cared  as  little  for  the  law  as  his  royal  mistress.  In  most 
cases  he  would  take  nothing  but  an  unconditional  sub- 
mission. This  was  refused  by  many,  and  hundreds  of 
parishes  were  left  without  a  preacher.* 

But  even  this  was  not  sufficient  for  the  queen  and 
her  archbishop.    The  Act  of  Supremacy,  passed  in  1559, 


institution,  consecration,  or  ordering  than  the  form  set  forth  by 
Parliament,"  etc.,  "  shall  .  .  .  subscribe  to  all  the  Articles  of  Religion 
which  only  concern  the  true  Christian  faith  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
Sacraments, .  .  .  upon  j)ain  of  being  ipso  facto  deprived,  and  his  eccle- 
siastical promotions  void  as  if  he  were  naturally  dead."  — 13  Eliz. 
cap.  xii.  sec.  1.  See  the  whole  subject  of  the  illegality  of  these  or- 
ders ably  discussed  in  "The  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth,"  by  Sam- 
uel HojDkins,  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii.  chaps,  xiii.  and  xiv.  The  form 
of  this  book  has,  perhaps,  obscured  its  real  value  as  the  work  of  a 
painstaking,  conscientious  scholar. 

*  According  to  Neal,  chap,  vii.,  in  six  counties  alone — Norfolk, 
Suffolk,  Sussex,  Essex,  Kent,  and  Lincolnshire — two  hundred  and 
thirty-three  ministers  were  suspended,  of  whom  some  were  allowed 
time  for  reconsideration,  but  forty-nine  were  absolutely  deprived  at 
once. 


474       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

which  vested  all  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  the  crown, 
empowered  the  queen  to  execute  it  by  commissioners, 
in  such  manner  and  for  such  time  as  she  should  direct. 
Under  this  act  several  commissions  had  been  created, 
sitting  for  limited  periods,  but  with  constantly  aug- 
mented authority.  'Now,  however,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Whitgift,  a  permanent  commission  was  established 
which,  under  the  name  of  the  High  Commission  Court, 
continued  its  obnoxious  life  until  hacked  down  by  the 
Long  Parhament.  This  court  was  created  on  the  9th 
of  December,  1583.  It  consisted  of  fort3^-four  commis- 
sioners, twelve  of  whom  were  bishops,  some  privy-coun- 
cillors, and  the  rest  partly  clergymen  and  partly  civil- 
ians. To  any  three,  one  being  a  bishop,  power  was 
given  to  punish  all  persons  absenting  themselves  from 
church  in  violation  of  the  statutes;  to  visit  and  reform 
heresies  and  schisms  according  to  law ;  to  deprive  all 
beneficed  persons  holding  any  doctrines  contrary  to  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  ;  to  punish  incest,  adulteries,  and ' 
all  offences  of  the  kind ;  to  examine  all  suspected  per- 
sons on  their  oaths ;  and  to  punish  all  who  should  re- 
fuse to  appear  before  them,  or  to  obey  their  orders,  by 
spiritual  censure,  or  by  discretionary  fine  or  imprison- 
ment."^ 

In  nothing  did  this  Commission  fall  behind  Alva's 
famous  Council  of  Blood,  created  fifteen  years  before, 
except  in  the  power  of  punishing  by  death ;  and  in  the 
condition  of  the  English  prisons  of  that  day  even  this 
power  was  indirectly  granted,  for  the  jail-fever  was  as 
fatal  as  the  axe  of  the  executioner.  Of  its  origin,  the 
unimpassioned  Hallam  says,  "the  primary  model  was 
the  Inquisition  itself."  f 


*  Hallam,  i.  204.  t  Idem. 


THE   ENGLISH   INQUISITION    AND   ITS    RESULTS  475 

Furnished  with  such  an  engine,  Whitgift  was  not 
slow  in  putting  it  to  use.  In  view  of  the  provision 
which  allowed  the  examination  of  suspected  persons 
under  their  own  oaths,  he  proceeded  to  frame  a  set  of 
twenty-four  interrogatories,  to  be  administered  to  all 
persons  supposed  to  be  inclined  to  non-conformity.  In 
May,  ISStt,  all  was  ready,  and  the  tribunal  began  its  ses- 
sions. The  suspected  clergymen,  mostly  young  men,  as 
Whitgift  said,  were  summoned  before  the  court.  They 
"were  not  shown  the  interrogatories,  nor  advised  of  what 
charge  was  made  against  them.  First,  they  were  sworn 
to  tell  the  truth ;  then  the  questioning  began,  the  at- 
tempt being  made  to  discover  w^hether  they  had  ever 
omitted  the  ring  in  marriage,  the  cross  in  baptism,  the 
wearing  of  the  surplice,  or  any  of  the  prayers  of  the 
Church ;  whether  they  doubted  any  of  its  articles ;  and, 
finally,  the  victim  was  interrogated  as  to  his  future 
intentions.* 

Reports  of  what  was  going  on  came  to  the  ears  of 
Lord  Burghley  in  July.  He  then  sent  for  the  inter- 
rogatories, and  read  them  for  the  first  time.  He  was 
far  from  being  a  Puritan  himself — in  fact,  he  had  been 
very  friendly  to  the  archbishop — but  now  he  could  not 
restrain  his  indignation.  Throwing  aside  his  custo- 
mary diplomatic  caution,  he  sat  down  and  in  an  ear- 
nest letter  told  Whitgift  very  plainly  w^hat  he  thought 
of  his  proceedings.f     But  little  did  Whitgift  care  for 

*  Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  Appendix. 

t  "  Your  twenty-four  articles,"  he  said,  "  I  find  so  curiously  jjenued, 
so  full  of  branches  and  circumstances,  as  I  think  the  Inquisitors  of 
Spain  use  not  so  many  questions  to  comprehend  and  to  trap  their 
preys.  ...  I  desire  the  peace  of  the  Church.  I  desire  concord  and 
unity  in  the  exercise  of  our  religion.  I  favor  no  sensual  and  wilful 
recusants.     But  I  conclude  that,  according  to  my  simple  judgment, 


476       THE   PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

Burghley,  or  even  for  the  whole  council,  which  remon- 
strated against  his  action.  He  had  his  commission  and 
behind  him  stood  the  queen.  Behind  her  stood  the  acts 
of  Parliament  which  without  her  consent  could  not  be 
repealed. 

How  the  work  resulted  is  shown  in  a  petition  which 
came  up  to  the  council  from  the  county  of  Essex.  Our 
ministers  having  been  taken  away,  it  said,  "we  have 
none  left  but  such  as  we  can  prove  unJBt  for  the  office. 
They  are  altogether  ignorant,  having  been  either  popish 
priests,  or  shiftless  men  thrust  in  upon  the  ministry 
when  they  knew  not  how  else  to  live — serving-men  and 
the  basest  of  all  sorts ;  and,  what  is  most  lamentable, 
as  they  are  men  of  no  gifts,  so  they  are  of  no  common 
honesty,  but  rioters,  dicers,  drunkards,  and  such  like, 
of  offensive  lives."  '^'  Incited  by  this  petition,  the  coun- 
cil made  an  examination  for  itself,  and,  on  the  20th  of 
September,  1584,  sent  to  his  Grace  of  Canterbury  and 
to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London  a  letter  signed  by  Burgh- 
ley, Howard,  Shrewsbury,  Crofts,  Warwick,  Hatton, 
Leicester,  and  "Walsingham.  This  was  no  Puritan  doc- 
ument, but  an  official  statement,  made  by  Protestants 
and  Catholics  conjointly,  of  the  condition  in  which  they 
found  the  Church,  not  in  Essex  alone,  but  throughout 
the  kingdom.  As  to  this  particular  county,  there  was 
enclosed  a  list  of  learned  and  zealous  ministers  deprived 
and  suspended,  and  another  list  "of  persons  having 
cures,  being  far  unmeet  for  any  offices  in  the  Church." 


this  kind  of  proceeding  is  too  much  savoring  of  the  Romish  Inqui- 
sition; and  is  rather  a  device  to  seek  for  offenders  than  to  reform 
any.  This  is  not  the  charitable  instruction  that  I  thought  Avas  in- 
tended."—July  1st,  1584,  Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  App.  book  iii.  No.  9. 
*  Neal. 


AYLMBE,  BISHOP  OF  LONDON,  AND   HIS    WOEK  477 

"  Against  all  these  sorts  of  lewd,  evil,  unprofitable,  and 
corrupt  members,  we  hear  of  no  inquisitions,  nor  any 
kind  of  proceeding  to  the  reformation  of  these  horrible 
offences  in  the  Church ;  but  yet  of  great  diligence,  yea, 
and  extremity,  used  against  those  that  are  known  dili- 
gent preachers.  .  .  .  We  do  hear  daily  of  the  hke  in 
generality  in  many  other  places."  * 

In  Aylmer,  Bishop  of  London,  Avithin  whose  diocese 
was  the  county  of  Essex,  the  archbishop  had  a  worthy 
coadjutor.  He  was  one  of  the  prelates  whose  official  dis- 
honesty reflected  the  greatest  discredit  upon  the  Church,  f 
But,  whatever  his  faults  as  a  man,  no  one  could  ques- 
tion his  zeal  against  the  non-conformists.  In  1584,  he 
suspended  thirty-eight  clergymen  in  Essex  alone — men 
earnest  in  Christian  work  and  of  unblemished  hfe — for 
refusing  to  w^ear  the  surplice.  As  he  was  absent  from 
the  city  when  the  council's  communication  w^as  re- 
ceived, the  archbishop  replied  that  he  could  not  make 
full  answer  to  it ;  that  he  hoped  the  information  to  be 
in  most  parts  unjust ;  that  if  the  ministers  were  as  re- 
ported, they  were  worthy  of  grievous  punishment,  and 
that  he  would  not  be  slack  therein ;  but  he  added — in- 
nocently revealing  the  character  of  his  commission — that 
none,  or  few,  had  been  presented  for  any  such  misde- 
meanors. :|; 

Nothing  upon  the  record  shows  that  anything  was 


*  Strype's  "  Whitgift,"  pp.  166,  167. 

t  "  The  violence  of  Aylmer's  temper  was  not  redeemed  by  many 
virtues ;  it  is  impossible  to  exonerate  his  character  from  the  impu- 
tations of  covetousness,  and  of  plundering  the  revenues  of  his  see — 
faults  very  prevalent  among  the  bishops  of  that  period." — Hallam, 
i.  205. 

I  Strype's  »  Whitgift,"  pp.  167,  168. 


478        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

clone  after  the  return  of  Aylmer  ;*  but  the  action  of  this 
prelate  in  the  succeeding  year  tells  what  he  thought 
of  such  complaints  as  those  which  came  up  from  the 
factious  Puritans  of  his  diocese. 

Thomas  Carew,  a  minister  of  Hatfield,  in  the  county 
of  Essex,  had  angered  the  bishop  by  informing  him  that 
in  his  county,  "  within  the  compass  of  sixteen  miles, 
were  twenty-two  non-resident  ministers,  and  thirty  who 
were  insufficient  for  their  office  and  of  scandalous  lives, 
while  at  the  same  time  there  were  nineteen  who  were 
silenced  for  refusing  subscription."  In  1585,  he  was 
hauled  up  before  the  High  Commission.  A  clergyman 
who  would  thus  criticise  the  action  of  his  superiors  must 
naturally  belong  to  the  suspected  party,  and  for  such 
men  the  famous  interrogatories  had  been  prepared  by 
Whitgift.  Being  offered  the  oath  preliminary  to  his 
examination,  he,  as  many  others  did  before  and  after 
him,  refused  to  take  it,  on  the  ground  that  under  the 
law  of  England  from  the  time  of  Magna  Charta  no 
man  could  be  compelled  to  criminate  himself.  For  this 
contempt  he  was  committed  to  prison  without  bail, 
and  the  bishop  sent  down  another  minister  to  take  his 
place. 

The  patron  of  the  living  objected  to  this  interference 
with  his  legal  rights,  and  declined  to  recognize  the  new 
incumbent.  He,  too,  was  sent  to  prison,  and  the  bishop 
remained  master  of  the  field.  Very  soon,  however,  Mr. 
Carew's  successor  was  detected  in  adultery,  and  the 
parishioners  presented  a  request  for  his  removal  and 
the  reinstatement  of  their  former  clergyman.  Aylmer 
replied  that  "for  all  the  livings  he  had  he  would  not 


*  Hopkins,  ii.  436. 


KELIGIOUS   FORMS    MORE    IMPORTANT   THAN   MORALITY      479 

deprive  a  poor  man  of  his  living  for  the  fact  of  adul- 
tery." * 

This  incident,  occurring  in  the  centre  of  English  civili- 
zation, furnishes  a  suggestive  illustration  of  the  conflict 
which  was  going  on  within  the  English  Church.  On 
the  one  side  stood  a  people  asking  for  religious  teach- 
ing; on  the  other,  a  hierarchy  discouraging  all  such 
teaching,  and  telling  the  nation  that  even  morality  was 
of  no  importance  when  compared  with  forms  and  cere- 
monies. The  Puritans,  as  developed  in  later  days,  have 
been  often  reviled  and  ridiculed  for  attempting  to  find  a 
rule  of  life  in  what  they  regarded  as  the  law  of  God  laid 
down  in  the  Old  Testament,  Few  persons  to-day  will 
hold  them  blameworthy  for  believing  that  obedience  to 
the  Decalogue  was  of  more  vital  importance  than  the 
wearing  of  a  surplice  or  the  use  of  the  cross  in  baptism. 

Here,  for  the  present,  we  may  leave  this  class  of  non- 
conformists. We  have  seen  a  little  of  the  mode  in  which 
Elizabeth  and  her  prelates  dealt  with  these  men,  who 
then  alone  went  by  the  name  of  Puritans — men  who 
had  no  thought  of  leaving  the  Established  Church,  but 
who  for  nearly  thirty  years  had  been  struggling  for 
some  liberty  of  worship  under  the  protection  of  the  law. 
Time  and  again  they  had  appealed  to  Parliament  for 
redress,  and  time  and  again  bold  members  had  stood  up 
in  the  House  of  Commons  to  plead  their  cause,  only  to 
be  sent  to  the  Tower  for  calling  in  question  the  spirit- 
ual supremacy  of  the  crown.  Still,  the  repressive  meas- 
ures of  the  government  were  comparatively  mild  until 
"Whitgift  came  upon  the  scene.  He  told  Burghley,  in 
1584,  that  "  not   severity,  but   lenity,  hath   bred  this 


*  Brook's  "Lives  of  the  Puritans,"  ii.  16G,  citing  MSS.  Register, 
pp.  653,  654 ;  Hopkins,  iii.  33. 


480  THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

schism  in  the  Church,"  *  and  he  evidently  expected  that 
a  different  pohcy  would  heal  the  breach.  Perhaps  he 
was  right;  perhaps,  too,  if  he  had  been  dealing  only 
with  Englishmen,  undisturbed  by  any  foreign  influence, 
his  policy  of  repression  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  which 
was  carried  on  systematically  throughout  the  kingdom, 
might  have  proved  effectual,  and  England  might  have 
been  purged  of  Puritanism. 

But  for  some  years  England  had  not  been  left  to  her- 
self to  work  out  her  problems  alone,  as  in  preceding 
centuries.  We  have  seen  how  the  Catholics  from  the 
Continent  were  affecting  one  part  of  the  community, 
inculcating  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  authority  little 
known  before  among  the  middle  classes.  On  the  Prot- 
estant side  there  was  also  a  direct  foreign  influence  at 
work,  which  was  even  more  powerful,  although  little 
noticed  by  historians.  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  see 
something  of  its  character ;  and,  later  on,  something  of 
its  results  in  the  development  of  a  new  class  of  reform- 
ers very  different  from  the  early  Puritans. 


-  Strype's  "  Wbitgift,"  p.  172. 


CHAPTER  X 

ENGLISH    PURITANISM 
INFLUENCE    FKOM   THE    NETHEELANDS,  1558-1585 

Thus  far,  in  considering  the  foreign  influences  which 
affected  the  Puritanism  of  England  during  the  early 
days  of  Elizabeth,  Ave  have  confined  our  view  mainly  to 
the  theological  stream  which  flowed  directly  from  the 
great  fountain-head  of  Calvinism  at  Geneva.  This 
stream  colored  all  the  theology  of  the  island,  and  so 
every  writer  who  has  treated  of  this  period  has  been 
compelled  to  recognize  its  presence.  But  creeds  are 
only  lifeless  words.  The  metaphysical  doctrines  which 
the  Marian  exiles  brought  back  from  Switzerland,  un- 
like discoveries  in  science  or  the  arts,  were  in  themselves 
of  little  value.  Posterity  owes  to  these  men  a  great 
debt  of  gratitude  for  their  devotion  to  what  they  con- 
sidered truth.  Many  of  them,  in  addition  to  their  theo- 
logical teachings,  did  a  noble  work  in  trjnng  to  reform 
the  morals  of  their  native  land.  Put,  unless  outside  in- 
fluences had  reinforced  their  efforts,  the  labors  of  these 
early  reformers  would  have  passed  away,  and  left  but  a 
faint  impression.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  wave  of  Protes- 
tantism which  came  into  England  with  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth  affords  no  adequate  explanation  of  the  course 
of  subsequent  events,  which  were  even  more  remarkable 
in  the  State  than  in  the  Church. 

]S"othing  in  the  development  of  English  Puritanism  is 
L— 31 


483        TUE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

more  suggestive  than  the  change  which  came  over  its 
character  in  the  space  of  a  comparatively  few  years.  In 
its  early  days  it  dwelt  among  the  learned,  and  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  among  the  powerful  and  wealthy;  in 
the  next  century,  it  had  shifted  its  abode  almost  entirely 
to  the  dwellings  of  the  middle  classes  and  the  poor.  In 
this  particular,  the  movement  was  somewhat  peculiar. 
Early  Christianity  began  at  the  bottom  and  worked  up- 
wards, so  have  most  religious  revivals  since  that  time.* 
Such  has  been  the  growth  of  the  Quakers,  the  Baptists, 
and  the  more  modern  Methodists.  But  Puritanism  in 
England  began  at  the  top  and  worked  downwards.  For 
years  after  Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne,  some  of  the 
most  prominent  statesmen,  many  of  the  most  learned 
bishops,  and  almost  all  of  the  most  distinguished  divines, 
were  Reformers  or  Puritans,  who,  even  if  they  outward- 
ly conformed,  yet  advocated  changes  in  the  discipline 
and  ceremonial  of  the  establishment.  These  men,  and 
others  like  them,  laid  down  the  doctrines  of  the  Angli- 
can Church  on  lines  so  strictly  Calvinistic  that  John 
Knox,  or  even  Calvin  himself,  could  have  found  little  in 
them  of  which  to  disapprove. 

But  in  a  few  years  all  this  was  changed.  During  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth's  immediate  successor  the  old  Calvin- 
istic  theology  fell  into  disfavor ;  under  Charles  I.  it  was 
entirely  repudiated  by  the  ambitious  divines  of  the 
Church  who  sought  high  preferment.f  Meantime,  the 
men  who  wished  to  reform  the  discipline  or  service  of 
the  Church  were  no  longer  found  among  the  magnates 


*  I  do  not  now  speak  of  the  so-called  religious  movements,  -whicli 
were  really  political,  as  was  much  of  the  Protestantism  in  France 
and  the  Lutheranism  of  Germany. 

+  Macaulay,  1.  74  ;  Buckle,  Amer.  ed.,  1864,  i.  611. 


DECLINE    OF    PURITANISM   AMONG   THE   UPPER   CLASSES       483 

of  the  land.  Prelate  vied  with  courtier  in  proclaiming 
the  doctrine  that  Episcopacy  was  ordained  of  God,  and 
that  the  only  fault  in  its  servive  was  too  great  a  simplicity. 
The  theology  of  Calvin  had  worked  downwards,  and  so 
had  the  demand  for  a  simpler  form  of  worship.  To  be 
sure,  there  were  still  non-conforming  ministers  of  educa- 
tion, scholars,  bred  at  the  universities,  with  all  the  learn- 
ing and  culture  of  the  time,  but  the  majority  of  the  Puri- 
tans were  taken  from  a  different  class.  The  men  who 
dethroned  their  king,  and  who,  under  the  Common- 
wealth, made  the  name  of  England  respected  wherever 
a  European  tongue  was  spoken,  sprang  from  the  loins 
of  the  common  people.  Look  over  the  list  of  the  famous 
soldiers,  sailors,  and  civilians  of  that  time,  and  we  find 
not  men  of  lofty  lineage,  but,  for  the  greater  part,  small 
landed  proprietors,  brewers,  bakers,  tailors,  merchants, 
even  cobblers,  tinkers,  draymen,  and  body  servants.* 
The  Roundhead,  whose  appearance  and  language  are 
familiar  to  every  reader,  was  a  very  different  character, 
externally  regarded,  from  the  courtly  and  scholarly  Re- 
formers of  the  early  days  of  Elizabeth.  The  latter  rep- 
resent English  Puritanism  of  the  third  quarter  of  the 
sixteenth  century;  the  former  show  what  it  had  become 
in  the  second  quarter  of  the  seventeenth.  The  causes  of 
this  change  seem  worthy  of  more  consideration  than 
they  have  generally  received. 

How  Puritanism  almost  died  out  among  the  wealthy 
and  the  learned  of  England  can  be  readily  understood. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  exiles  who  returned  from  the  Con- 
tinent upon  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  represented  most 
of  the  learning  of  the  realm.     They  were  numerous 


*  See  Buckle,  i.  474,  for  an  extended  account  of  the  origin  and 
pursuits  of  the  men  prominent  in  the  Commonwealth. 


484   THE  PURITAN  IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

enough — some  eight  hundred  having  fled  from  the  per- 
secutions of  Mary  —  to  have  produced,  under  favorable 
conditions,  a  marked  effect.  Almost  to  a  man  they  de- 
sired a  reformation  of  the  Church,  far  beyond  the  point 
to  which  it  had  been  carried  under  Henry  or  his  son  Ed- 
ward. Parliament  favored  them,  for  the  nation  had  still 
ringing  in  its  ears  the  agonizing  cries  of  the  martyrs  as 
the  flames  blazed  up  at  Smithfield.  Had  the  queen  been 
also  their  ally,  and  had  she  filled  the  pulpits  with  men 
of  the  same  stamp,  England  would  have  been  made  Prot- 
estant in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  the  abuses  of  the  crown 
w^ould  have  been  gradually  corrected,  and  with  general 
education,  as  in  Scotland  and  Holland,  the  people  would 
have  been  elevated  to  a  higher  plane.  There  might  in 
the  process  have  been  disorder,  as  men  then  and  ever 
since  have  affected  to  believe,  but  postponement  only 
brought  on  the  tempest,  which,  in  the  next  century, 
swept  the  land,  because  a  reformation,  culminating  in 
the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  celestial  origin  of  the 
Established  Church,  Tvas  in  truth  little  more  than  a  mon- 
strous sham. 

But  Elizabeth,  advised  by  Spain  and  backed  by  her 
Catholic  favorites,  was  strong  enough  to  prevent  any 
open  change.  Still,  there  was  a  silent  revolution  to  be 
dreaded,  one  which  might  come  about  if  the  people  were 
instructed  in  religious  questions.  To  prevent  this  also 
her  measures  seemed  Avell  directed.  The  men  w^ho  were 
intellectually  inclined  to  schemes  of  Church  reforms,  but 
who  had  no  intensity  of  conviction,  were  easily  disposed 
of.  Some  of  them  were  placed  in  bishoprics,  others  in 
lucrative  livings.  They  soon  discovered  that  if  they 
were  to  hold  on  to  the  good  things  of  this  life  they  must 
obey  the  wishes  of  the  queen.  The  lesson  was  learned, 
and  the  zeal  of  many  was  abated  forever.    Pather  than 


RESULTS    OP    ELIZABETH'S    PERSECUTION  485 

surrender  their  comfortable  surroundings,  they  were  con- 
tent to  swim  with  the  current,  and  let  the  Reformation 
take  care  of  itself.  The  new  men  coming  into  the  min- 
istry saw  that  the  path  to  preferment  lay,  not  through 
scholarship,  eloquence,  or  piety,  but  through  the  practice 
of  the  courtier's  arts.  They,  too,  learned  their  lesson, 
and  the  second  generation  was  little  vexed  by  reformers 
in  the  high  places  of  the  Church.* 

But  there  was  another  class,  much  more  difficult  to 
deal  with — men  who  could  neither  be  bribed  nor  flat- 
tered into  silence.  It  is  easy  enough  to-day,  when  forms 
and  ceremonies  have  lost  much  of  their  power,  to  speak 
of  them  as  narrow-minded,  because  they  would  not  wear 
the  old  priestly  robes,  nor  use  rites  which  kept  alive  the 
recollections  of  the  ancient  Church.  They  were  wiser 
than  their  modern  critics  and  understood  their  age. 
They  sought  a  separation  from  the  papacy  as  complete 
as  that  which  the  Israelites  effected  when  they  placed  a 
sea  and  a  wilderness  between  themselves  and  the  Egyp- 
tians. EHzabeth  also  took  in  the  situation  as  well.  She 
was  determined  that  there  should  be  no  such  separation. 
The  ships  of  her  reforms  were  too  valuable  to  be  burned ; 
they  might  be  useful  for  a  return  voyage  to  Eome.  The 
zealots  who  persisted  in  thwarting  her  plans  could  be 
dealt  with  in  only  one  manner.  They  must  be  sup- 
pressed at  any  cost. 

Mary  had  attempted  to  crush  out  heresy  by  force,  but 
such  a  general  persecution  as  she  had  carried  on,  even  if 
possible,  would  have  defeated  its  object.  Elizabeth  com- 
mitted no  such  blunder.     The  stake  and  the  axe  make 


*  The  reforms  proposed  at  the  accession  of  James  I.,  by  about  one 
ninth  of  the  clergy,  were  opposed  by  the  whole  bench  of  bishops  and 
both  the  universities. 


486        THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

picturesque  sufferers.  It  is  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  that 
in  all  ages  has  been  the  seed  of  a  Church.  A  canonized 
saint  appeals  to  the  popular  imagination.  His  ashes  re- 
quire neither  food  nor  raiment ;  they  ask  for  nothing 
but  a  little  earth,  sympathy,  pity,  tears,  remembrance. 
But  a  living  martyr,  made  to  suffer  for  his  opinions,  oc- 
cupies a  very  different  position.  He  requires  a  continued, 
substantial  support,  and,  however  fervent  may  be  the  first 
feelings  in  his  behalf,  to  carry  on  a  work  of  charity  for 
years  calls  for  something  more  than  sympathy  or  pity ; 
it  presupposes  in  a  people  a  depth  of  religious  conviction 
little  known  among  the  English  masses  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

When,  therefore,  Elizabeth  drove  the  reforming  di- 
vines from  their  livings,  forbade  their  formation  of  sepa- 
rate congregations,  and  left  them  to  wander  about  the 
country  as  itinerant  preachers  and  schoolmasters,  while 
she  also,  in  the  main,  frowned  upon  the  men  in  civil  life 
who  upheld  their  doctrines,  she  adopted  the  most  effect- 
ive form  of  persecution  which  could  be  practised  on  her 
people.  It  was  pursued  systematically  and  persistently 
for  many  years.  In  time  its  results  became  very  marked 
in  one  direction.  When  the  Marian  exiles  died  off  they 
left  few  successors  among  the  scholars  of  the  land.  We 
hear  little  more  of  deep  learning  among  the  Puritans,  or 
of  Puritanism  among  the  upper  classes.  Reform  was  no 
longer  fashionable. 

But  although  the  policy  of  Elizabeth  explains  how 
Puritanism  died  out  among  the  prelates  of  the  Church, 
and  how  it  came  to  leave  the  habitations  of  the  wise  and 
great,  it  does  not  explain  how  it  came  to  dwell  among 
the  lowly,  and  why  it  spread  in  spite  of  persecution. 
These  are  different  and  more  important  questions.  The 
teaching  of  a  Calvinistic  theology  by  the  Genevan  ex- 


BAELY  IMMIGRATION   FROM   THE  NETHERLANDS  487 

iles  is  not  an  adequate  explanation,  for  the  teachers  were 
too  few  in  number  to  have  produced  the  acknowledged 
result,  and  the  people  were  in  no  condition  to  be  affected 
by  religious  dogmas.  In  truth,  when  we  consider  the 
general  condition  of  the  people,  the  wonder  is  that  Puri- 
tanism, as  a  rehgious  and  political  force,  was  not  entirely 
crushed  out  in  England  while  Elizabeth  was  on  the 
throne.  It  had  little  lodgment  among  the  masses. 
They  had,  to  be  sure,  the  remembrance  of  the  persecution 
under  Mary,  but  that  remembrance  became  fainter  year 
by  year.  Yery  few  of  them  could  read,  and  every  at- 
tempt was  made  to  keep  them  ignorant.  Left  to  them- 
selves, unaffected  by  any  influence  from  abroad,  except 
that  which  we  have  already  noticed,  it  is  probable  that, 
even  if  they  had  not  returned  to  Catholicism,  we  should 
hear  nothing  of  the  movement  which  in  the  next  century 
gave  birth  to  the  Commonwealth. 

If  now  we  leave  England  and  cross  the  Channel  to  the 
Netherlands,  we  shall  perhaps  discover  the  origin  of  the 
leading  foreign  influence  which  kept  alive  the  spirit  of 
English  Puritanism,  and  which  ultimately  shaped  its 
character. 

As  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter,  the  Reformation 
in  the  Low  Countries  began  at  the  bottom,  among  the 
artisans  in  the  cities,  and  the  tillers  of  the  soil  in  the 
rural  districts.  Quite  early  there  began  to  pour  into 
England  a  little  stream  of  these  enlightened  and  relig- 
ious workmen.  The  regions  to  which  they  were  always 
attracted  were  the  low,  swampy  lands  on  the  eastern 
coast,  which  reminded  them  of  home.  There  they  built 
their  dikes,  dug  out  canals,  and  gave  to  a  district  in  Lin- 
colnshire the  name  of  Holland.  They  swarmed  into 
l^orfolk,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  weaving  indus- 
try, which  made  Norwich  the  second  city  in  the  king- 


488         THE  PURITAN  IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

dora.  When  Wyclif  arose,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  to 
preach  the  doctrines  of  a  reformed  faith,  he  found  most 
of  his  adherents  among  these  \yeavers.  In  fact,  during 
the  persecution  of  the  Lollards  more  persons  suffered 
death  at  the  stake  in  Norfolk  than  in  all  the  other  coun- 
ties of  England  put  together.*  In  a  few  years  after 
"Wyclif's  death  the  Lollard  preachers  were  suppressed, 
and  their  sect  disappeared  from  public  view.  But  in  the 
low  districts  on  the  eastern  coast,  where  the  Netherland- 
ers  had  settled,  the  reforming  spirit  still  survived.  So 
late  as  1520,  Longland,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  reported  that 
Lollardism  was  especially  vigorous  and  obstinate  in  his 
diocese,  where  more  than  two  hundred  heretics  were 
once  brought  before  him  in  the  course  of  a  single  vis- 
itation.f 

When,  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  death  of  Wy- 
clif, Charles  Y.  began  his  persecution  of  the  Protestants 
in  the  Netherlands,  which  was  intensified  under  his  suc- 
cessor, the  little  stream  of  emigration  from  across  the 
Channel  swelled  into  a  mighty  river.  In  1560,  it  was 
estimated  that  England  contained  10,000  refugees  from 
Flanders,  with  their  ministers  and  preachers,  and  in  1562 
the  number  had  increased  to  over  30,000.:}:  How  many 
came  over  in  the  next  few  years  cannot  be  accurately 
determined,  but  Davies,  upon  the  best  foreign  authorities, 
estimates  that  before  the  termination  of  Alva's  rule  over 
one  hundred  thousand  heads  of  families  had  left  the 


*  Eoger's  "  Story  of  Holland,"  p.  51. 

t  "  The  Beginnings  of  New  England,"  Jolm  Fiske,  p.  62.  Most 
of  the  victims  of  Bloody  Mary  came  also  from  the  manufacturing 
districts  of  the  South  and  East.  Green,  "History  of  the  English 
People,"  vol.  ii.  book  vi.  chap.  ii. 

I  Reports  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  Froude,  vii.  270,  413. 


NETHEKLAND   REFUGEES  IN  ENGLAND   UNDER  ALVA'S  RULE    489 

ISTetherlands,  a  majority  of  whom  found  a  home  in  Eng- 
land.* A  census  taken  by  the  lord-mayor  of  London  in 
1568,  the  year  after  Alva's  arrival  in  the  IN'etherlands, 
shows  that  of  6704  foreigners  then  in  the  city  and  its  vi- 
cinity, 5225  were  from  the  Low  Countries.f  Elizabeth 
did  not  encourage  their  remaining  in  London,  where,  at  a 
later  day,  they  flocked  in  such  numbers  as  to  attract  the 
notice  of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  and  so  dispersed  the 
new-comers  through  the  country.;]:  In  the  first  quarter 
of  the  next  century,  London,  in  a  population  compara- 
tively small,  numbering  probably  not  130,000  inhabitants, 
contained  not  fewer  than  10,000  foreigners.§  In  1571, 
there  were  in  Norwich  alone,  by  actual  count,  3925  Dutch 
and  Walloons.!  In  1587,  the  number  had  risen  to  4679, 
making  a  majority  of  the  population.!"  They  located 
by  thousands  in  the  Cinque  Ports — that  is,  Dover,  Sand- 
wich, Hastings,  Romney,  and  Hythe.**     In  Sandwich 


*  Davies's  "  Holland,'"'  i.  567.     Green  puts  the  number  in  England 
at  over  50,000.    "  Hist,  of  the  English  People,"  vol.  ii.  book  vi.  chap.  v. 
t  Strype's  "  Annals,"  vol.  iv.  Supplement,  p.  1. 

I  Idem,  ii.  387. 

§  Nicholas's  "  Pedigree  of  the  English  People,"  p.  538.  This  author 
says  that  they  were  mostly  Huguenots,  but  at  that  time  the  great 
French  emigration  had  not  taken  place.  The  Walloons  from  the 
Netherlands  were  often  called.  Huguenots  in  England,  as  in  Canter- 
bury, for  example,  and  this  probably  causes  the  confusion.  We  are 
told  by  the  Due  de  Sully,  the  great  French  minister,  that  when  he 
visited  Canterbury,  in  1603,  he  found  that  two  thirds  of  the  inhabit- 
ants were  Netherland  refugees.  To  this  circumstance  he  attributed 
the  suj)erior  civilization  and  refinement  of  manners  which  he  no- 
ticed in  that  city.     "  Works,"  tome  iv.  lib.  xiv.  p.  217. 

II  Blomefield's  "Hist,  of  County  Norfolk,"  iii.  282,  291,  quoted  in 
Dexter's  "  Congregationalism,"  p.  72. 

IT  Southerden  Burn,  p.  69. 

**  Green's  "  Hist,  of  tlie  English  People,"  vol.  ii.  book  vi.  chap.  v. 


490         THE   PURITAN   IN  HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

there  were  351  Netherland  families  in  1582.*  So 
late  as  1615,  after  Laud  had  driven  great  numbers 
away,  there  were  700  communicants  in  the  Dutch 
Church  at  Colchester,  500  in  Sandwich,  and  900  in  the 
Walloon  Church  at  Canterbury.f  These  are  but  scatter- 
ing statistics,  gathered  at  a  time  when  the  census  was 
unknown  in  England,  but  they  are  suggestive.  The 
exiles  were  settled  all  through  the  southern  and  east- 
ern counties,  not  only  in  the  towns,  but  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts.:{: 

These  men  were  not  theologians,  like  the  English 
divines  who  about  the  same  time  returned  from  their  ex- 
ile upon  the  Continent.  Probably  few,  if  any  of  them, 
except  their  ministers,  had  been  educated  at  a  univer- 
sity. They  took  no  part  in  public  affairs,  and  their  ad- 
vent raised  not  the  slightest  ripple  upon  the  sea  of  poli- 
tics. In  fact,  but  for  its  effect  upon  the  material  pros- 
perity of  the  nation,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  this  in- 
flux of  foreign  artisans  would  have  been  deemed  worthy 
of  the  notice  of  historians.  The  effect  in  this  direction, 
however,  was  very  marked,  for  with  the  arrival  of  these 
IsTetherlanders  there  opens  the  first  chapter  in  the  in- 
dustrial history  of  modern  England. 

In  contrast  with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  in  the 
next  century  found  the  struggle  for  existence  so  severe 
in  Leyden,  each  of  these  refugees  was  the  master  of 
some  handicraft.     The  people  among  whom  they  set- 


*  "  Even  in  its  present  decay  Sandwich  is  quaint  and  Flemish." 
— Goadby's  "  England  of  ShakesiJeare,"  p.  38. 

t  Southerden  Burn,  p.  41. 

I  "  The  prevailing  name  of  Walker  is  distinct  evidence  of  a  large 
Flemish  settlement  in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire." — Goadby's  "  Eng- 
land," p.  37. 


mSTRUCTORS    OP   ENGLAND   IN   MANUFACTUEES,  ETC.        491 

tied  knew  almost  nothing  of  manufactures,  except  the 
weaving  of  some  coarse  grades  of  cloth,  and  in  agricul- 
ture they  were  little  more  advanced.  These  foreigners 
first  revealed  to  them  the  possibilities  of  the  mechanical 
arts.  In  London,  they  made  window  glass,  pins  and 
needles,  beaver  hats,  gloves,  and  fine  furniture ;  in  Col- 
chester, baize,  needles,  and  parchment ;  in  Honiton,  and 
elsewhere  in  Devonshire,  Flemish  lace ;  in  Mortlake, 
arras ;  in  Fulham,  tapestry  ;  in  Maidstone,  linen  thread ; 
in  Sheffield,  steel  and  iron  ;  and  in  Sandwich,  Leeds,  and 
l^orwich,  baize,  serges,  flannels,  silks,  and  bombazines."^ 
Others  again  showed  the  English  fishermen  the  art  of 
curing  herring,  the  English  farmer  how  to  cultivate  his 
land,  how  to  raise  vegetables  for  the  table,  grasses  and 
roots  for  the  subsistence  of  his  cattle  during  winter. 
Even  their  wives  taught  women  how  to  starch  their 
clothing. 

Later  on  came  another  class  of  emigrants,  made  up 
of  the  merchants  of  the  Netherlands,  by  whom  com- 
merce had  for  centuries  been  cultivated  as  a  science. 
After  the  fall  of  Antwerp  and  the  banishment  of  her 
Protestant  population,  it  was  estimated  that  a  third 
of  her  traders  were  to  be  seen  on  the  London  Ex- 


*  Goadby's"  England  of  Shakespeare,"  p.  38.  Soutlierden  Burn, pp. 
4,  195,  197,  202,  205,  208,  252,  etc.  When  Elizabeth  visited  Sand- 
wich, in  1573,  a  hundred  or  more  of  children,  Dutch  and  English, 
standing  on  a  scaffold  erected  on  the  wall  of  the  school-house  yard, 
showed  the  manner  of  spinning  fine  yarn,  much  to  the  delight  of 
her  majesty  and  the  nobility  and  ladies.  Burn,  p.  207.  When  she 
visited  Norwich,  in  1578,  there  were  among  other  shows  and  pag- 
eants, the  "artisan  strangers'  pageant,"  representing  seven  looma 
weaving  worsted,  russels,  darnix  (diaper  linen),  mackado,  lace, 
caffa,  and  fringes,  with  various  other  devices.  Blomefield,  cited 
Bm-n,  p.  69. 


492      THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

change.*  Under  these  teachers  the  English  slowly  learned 
that  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  are  a  surer 
and  more  enduring  source  of  wealth  than  wool-raising 
and  piracy.  It  took  many  years  to  learn  this  lesson, 
but  in  the  end  the  pupil  proved  worthy  of  the  master. 

These  results  of  a  Netherland  influence  upon  England 
are  universally  conceded.  They  cannot  be  denied,  for 
the  proof  is  too  direct ;  they  cannot  be  overlooked,  for 
the  teachings  of  these  foreigners  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  that  material  prosperity  in  which  her  people  take 
such  pride.  But  this  influence  extended  far  beyond  a 
first  lesson  in  the  industrial  arts.  The  mere  introduc- 
tion of  manufactures,  commerce,  and  a  system  of  scien- 
tific agriculture  would  have  availed  little  to  the  na- 
tion but  for  the  awakening  of  the  religious  and  moral 
principles  which  accompanied  their  introduction.  It 
was  Protestant  England  that  ultimately  controlled  the 
ocean  and  the  markets  of  the  world,  colonized  America, 
and  girded  the  earth  with  an  empire.  These  ITether- 
landers  helped  to  make  her  Protestant,  and  thus  laid  a 
lasting  basis  for  her  wealth ;  but  at  the  same  time  they 
did  even  a  greater  work  than  this,  for  in  helping  to 
make  her  Protestant  they  also  helped  to  make  her  free. 

How  the  religious  influence  was  exerted  can  be  read- 
ily understood  if  we  only  keep  in  mind  the  conditions 
of  the  problem. 

ISTo  people  on  earth  have  a  higher  order  of  virtues 
than  the  English  middle  classes.  They  have  a  courage 
which  never  falters,  an  earnestness  of  purpose  which 
brooks  no  obstacles,  a  love  of  justice  and  fair  play,  a 
devotion  to  home  and  country,  and  an  instinctive  moral- 


*  Green's  "Hist,  of  the  English  People,"  vol.  ii.  book  vi.  chap.  v. 


THEIR   RELIGIOUS   WORK   IN   ENGLAND  493 

ity  and  real  belief  in  a  Higher  Power  which  are  not  so 
common  among  the  Latin  races.  These  are  national 
traits  of  character;  they  existed  three  centuries  ago — 
some  of  them,  to  be  sure,  in  a  rudimentary  form — but 
all  enveloped  in  an  intellectual  and  religious  darkness, 
the  density  of  which,  in  view  of  the  progress  made  by 
the  nation  since  that  time,  it  is  very  difiBcult  for  one 
now  to  realize.  The  masses,  however  much  they  might 
wish  for  light,  had  almost  no  schools  to  which  they 
could  send  their  children,  almost  no  preachers  for  their 
own  instruction  in  morality  and  religion.  Among  such 
a  people,  these  l!^etherlanders  settled  down  and  made 
their  homes.  They  came  from  a  land  where  education 
was  universal.  Each  man  brought  his  Bible,  which  he 
could  read  for  himself  and  neighbors.  Earnestness  they 
had,  for  they  came  not  to  better  their  condition,  but 
simply  to  find  religious  freedom.  They  were  not  pau- 
pers seeking  alms,  they  were  independent  and  self-sup- 
porting, coming  from  a  country  where  beggars  were  un- 
known. Their  daily  life  was  a  sermon  on  the  Christian 
virtues  of  industry,  temperance,  and  chastity."'^ 

ITever  has  the  world  beheld  another  missionary  work 
on  such  a  scale  as  this,  nor  one  where  the  condi- 
tions were  all  so  favorable.  Modern  churches  send 
out  teachers  to  convert  the  heathen,  but  such  teach- 
ers labor  under  almost  insuperable  disadvantages.  If 
they  seek  out  savage  tribes,  an  abysmal  gulf  of  igno- 
rance and  barbarism  stands  between  them,  which  it 
seems  impossible  to  bridge.     If  they  go  to  India  or 


*  When  Archbishop  Parker  visited  Sandwich  in  1563,  he  wrote 
to  a  friend  that  the  Dutch  and  Walloons  there  were  very  godly  on 
the  Sabbath  day,  and  busy  in  their  work  on  the  week  day.  Strype's 
"Parker,"  foh  139. 


494       THE    PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

China,  the  so-called  heathen,  from  their  thousands  of 
years  of  civilization,  look  down  with  something  like 
contempt  on  their  semi-civilized  instructors.  In  each 
quarter  the  difference  is  too  great  between  the  teacher 
and  the  scholar.  But  no  such  gulf  separated  the  Neth- 
erlanders  from  the  English.  The  distance  in  civilization 
between  them  was  very  marked,  to  be  sure,  but  it  was 
a  difference  in  degree  and  hot  in  kind.  The  people  were 
of  much'  the  same  race,  and  by  nature  fitted  for  the 
same  pursuits.  Their  languages,  too,  were  so  much 
alike  that  it  was  almost  as-  easy  for  an  Englishman  to 
understand  a  Dutchman  as  to  understand  a  native  of 
some  distant  county  of  his  own  island.* 

In  view  of  these  facts,  one  can  readily  appreciate  the 
influence  which  was  exerted  upon  the  people  of  their 
adopted  land  by  these  refugees,  who  numbered  proba- 
bly from  fifty  to  seventy-five  thousand  heads  of  families. 
Elizabeth  disliked  their  religious  opinions,  and  had  no 
sympathy  with  them  as  rebels  against  their  sovereign. 
But  she  had  the  sagacity  to  foresee  the  material  advan- 
tages of  their  presence,  and  on  this  account  made  to 
them  concessions  which  were  denied  to  the  native-born 
Puritans.  They  were  permitted  freedom  of  worship  in 
their  own  congregations,  ministered  to  by  their  own 
preachers.  Each  artisan  was  by  law  required  to  take 
at  least  one  English  apprentice.     These  apprentices  be- 


*  Meteren,  the  historian,  who  lived  many  years  in  London,  called 
the  English  language  "broken  Dutch."  Motley's  "United  Nether- 
lands," i.  308.  During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  militia  summoned 
from  different  parts  of  the  island  found  it  difficult  to  understand 
even  the  word  of  command  given  by  officers  from  districts  other 
than  their  own.  Goadby's  "  England  of  Shakespeare,"  p.  83.  The 
resemblance  of  the  Dutch  to  the  Englisli  was  even  more  marked  three 
centuries  ago  than  it  is  to-day. 


INFLUENCE   IN   THE   CIVIL   FIELD— IDEAS   OP   LIBERTY        495 

came  members  of  the  family,  according  to  the  good 
custom  of  the  time,  and  were  subjected  to  a  home  relig- 
ious training.  Distributed  in  little  colonies,  through  the 
southern  and  eastern  sections  of  the  island,  each  congre- 
gation and  each  family  thus  became  a  centre,  from  which 
spread  out  ever- widening  waves  of  moral,  intellectual, 
and  religious  light. 

London  and  Korwich,  in  which  the  l^etherlanders 
made  their  most  important  settlements,  were  the  chief 
strongholds  of  English  Puritanism.  From  the  latter 
city  went  out  the  first  Brownist  or  Separatist  colony  to 
Holland,  It  was  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Lincoln 
that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  organized  their  early  congre- 
gation, and  the  same  section  furnished  the  great  body 
of  the  Puritans  whq  settled  ISTew  England  and  gave  it  its 
distinctive  character.  The  low  districts  about  the  Hum- 
ber  and  the  Wash,  reclaimed  from  the  ocean  by  the  Hol- 
landers, were  always  hot-beds  of  non-conformity;  here 
was  the  original  Boston ;  near  by  was  Cambridge,  the 
home  of  Puritanism,  commemorated  across  the  sea  in  a 
new  Cambridge,  the  seat  of  Harvard  College,  while  Ox- 
ford, far  removed,  was  High  Church,  if  not  papistical. 

Nor  was  the  influence  of  these  exiles  confined  to  the 
religious  field.  They  came  from  a  land  filled  with  cit- 
ies which,  until  the  days  of  Alva,  had  been  the  home 
of  civil  liberty ;  where  trade  was  unshackled  by  monop- 
olies or  arbitrary  impositions ;  where  justice  was  im- 
partially administered,  imprisonment  by  royal  warrant 
unknown,  the  pardon  of  criminals  for  money  unheard 
of ;  where  liberty  of  debate  in  their  legislatures  was  un- 
questioned, and  where  taxes  had  been  imposed  only  with 
the  consent  of  the  governed.  They  came  to  a  land 
where  almost  every  right  was  trampled  under  foot ; 
where  civil  liberty,  if  it  ever  existed,  was  little  more 


496      THE    PURITAN   IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

than  a  dim  tradition.     How  their  influence  must  have 
been  exerted  can  be  readily  imagined. 

So  early  as  1559,  Cecil  remarked  that  "those  who 
depend  on  the  making  of  cloths  are  of  worse  condition 
to  be  quietly  governed  than  the  husbandmen."  *  This 
was  in  the  infancy  of  English  manufactures.  As  time 
went  on,  the  task  of  government  became  less  easy.  The 
opposition  to  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  crown  grew 


*  Froude,  viii.  442.  Cardinal  Wolsey  learned  this  lesson  earlier. 
In  1525,  Henry  VIII.  aimed  his  most  deadly  blow  at  English  liberty. 
In  defiance  of  law  and  without  the  intervention  of  Parliament,  he 
appointed  commissioners  with  instructions  to  collect  the  sixth  part 
of  all  the  property  in  the  kingdom,  payable  in  money,  plate,  or 
jewels,  according  to  the  last  valuation.  The  wealthy  classes  were 
mostly  cowed  into  submission,  but  the  artisans  of  Suffolk,  men  liv- 
ing by  the  manufacture  of  coarse  cloth,  rose  in  open  rebellion. 
Their  armed  protest  proved  effectual,  and  the  obnoxious  measure 
was  abandoned.  Of  this  event  Hallam  says,  "  If  Wolsey,  therefore, 
could  have  procured  the  acquiescence  of  the  nation  under  this  yoke, 
there  would  probably  have  been  an  end  of  Parliaments  for  all  ordinary 
purposes.  But  the  courage  and  love  of  freedom  natural  to  the  Eng- 
lish Commons,  speaking  in  the  hoarse  voice  of  tumult,  though  very 
ill  supported  by  their  superiors,  preserved  us  in  so  great  a  peril." 
— "  Constitutional  Hist.,"  i.  36.  Knight  adds,  "  The  despot  now 
learned  that  his  absolute  rule  was  to  have  some  limit.  But  for  the 
artisans  of  Suffolk,  England  at  this  period  would  probably  have 
passed  into  the  condition  of  France,  where  the  abuse  of  the  royal 
power  had  long  deprived  the  people  of  their  rights."— "Popular 
Hist,  of  England,"  ii.  303.  John  Winthrop,  the  first  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  went  from  Suffolk  County.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
that  both  of  his  grandfathers,  paternal  and  maternal,  were  cloth- 
iers, a  name  then  applied  to  capitalists  who  employed  men  to  weave 
cloth  for  them  in  their  own  little  workshops.  "  Life  and  Letters  of 
John  Winthrop,"  by  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  i.  17,  47.  Suflolk,  like 
Norfolk,  w^as  a  favorite  home  of  the  Netherlaud  refugees,  who  fol- 
lowed their  trades  in  its  small  villages. 


SHOWN    IN   UPEISING    AGAINST   THE    STUARTS  497 

with  the  development  of  the  industrial  classes.  Tho 
tiller  of  the  soil,  as  Irish  history  has  shown,  can  exist 
even  when  denied  almost  every  human  right.  But  man- 
ufactures and  commerce  require  the  air  of  freedom. 
When  Ehzabeth  introduced  the  Netherland  artisans  into 
England,  she  was  moved  only  by  material  considera- 
tions. She  sought  a  share  of  the  wealth  that  had  made 
the  Low  Countries  the  treasury  of  the  world.  The 
wealth  came,  but  with  it  the  ideas  and  spirit  that  in 
the  next  century  bred  a  revolution. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  mere  conjecture  as  to  the 
effects  of  the  ISTetherland  influence  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  civil  liberty  in  England.  We  shall  see  more  in 
the  succeeding  pages  of  the  close  connection  between 
the  two  countries,  and  of  the  mode  in  which  ideas  famil- 
iar to  the  one  poured  into  the  other,  where  they  were 
unknown  or  forgotten ;  it  is  sufficient  now  to  point  out 
some  suggestive  facts  in  connection  with  the  settlements 
of  the  early  E"etherland  refugees.  When  the  civil  war 
broke  out  in  England,  a  war  in  which  the  insurgents 
demanded  the  civil  rights  long  estabhshed  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  in  the  Netherlands  alone,  the  army  of  the 
king  was  recruited  mainly  from  the  northern  and  west- 
ern counties,  while  that  of  the  Parliament  was  recruited 
from  the  eastern  and  southern  counties,  in  which  the 
Netherlanders  had  settled.  The  facts  are  no  less  signifi- 
cant in  relation  to  the  nativity  of  the  great  men  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  of  those  who  succeeded  them  as 
apostles  of  liberty.  Oliver  Cromwell  came  from  fenny 
Huntingdonshire,  and  raised  his  famous  Ironsides  in  the 
eastern  counties.  Ireton,  his  son-in-law,  who  stood  next 
to  him  in  military  and  civil  ability,  was  born  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Nottingham.  John  Hampden  was  of  a  Bucking- 
hamshire family,  but  his  mother  was  a  Cromwell.  Fair- 
I.— 32 


498        THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

fax  was  born  in  Yorkshire.  Sir  Harry  Vane  and  Alger- 
non Sidney  were  born  in  Kent,  Lord  "William  Eussell  and 
John  Bunyan  in  Bedford,  another  fen  district  of  the  East.* 
Such  were  some  of  the  results  of  the  presence  in  Eng- 
land of  this  peaceful  army  from  the  JSTetherlands,  which 
crossed  the  Channel  before  the  days  of  the  Spanish 
Armada.  That  historians  should,  in  the  main,  have  dis- 
cussed only  the  industrial  side  of  this  story,  is  no  wise 
remarkable.  The  influence  exerted  by  these  foreigners 
upon  the  religion  and  politics  of  their  adopted  land  was 
noiseless  in  its  action  and  slow  in  bearing  fruit.  It 
appears  in  no  act  of  Parliament,  and  can  be  measured 


*  Masson,  in  his  "  Life  and  Times  of  Milton,"  ii.  435,  gives  some 
tables  showing  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  royalists  and 
parliamentarians,  as  above  stated,  whicli  make  an  instructive  study 
in  connection  with  the  settlements  of  the  Netherlanders  the  century 
before.  The  author  remarks  that  his  tables  show  some  curious  eth- 
nological facts,  but  what  they  are  he  does  not  even  intimate. 

Since  these  j'jages  were  written  John  Fiske  has  published  a  very 
interesting  book  on  the  "Beginnings  of  New  England,"  in  which  he 
calls  attention  to  the  facts  stated  by  Masson,  but  neither  author  sug- 
gests any  explanation  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  Cav- 
aliers and  Puritans.  Mr.  Fiske  estimates  that  two  thirds  of  the 
Puritan  settlers  of  New  England  can"ie  from  the  Eastern  counties  of 
England,  and  another  third  from  the  coast  counties  of  the  South- 
west, Devonshire,  Dorset,  and  Somerset  (pp.  62,  63).  John  Souther- 
den  Burn,  in  his  "History  of  the  Protestant  Refugees  in  England" 
(London,  1846),  gives  an  account  of  Dutch  and  Walloon  churches, 
nearly  twenty  in  number,  established  in  England  during  the  six- 
teenth century ;  in  London,  Canterbury,  Sandwich,  Norwich,  South- 
ampton, Glastonbury,  Rye,  Winchelsea,  Colchester,  Yarmouth,  Maid- 
stone, Dover,  Stamford,  and  Thetford.  This  list  evidently  does  not 
make  up  the  full  number,  as  the  record  of  many  may  have  disap- 
peared, but  the  reader  will  find  here  the  names  of  six  towns  rejjro- 
duced  by  the  early  colonists  of  America,  while  all  of  them  are  in 
districts  which  furnished  New  England  witli  its  settlers. 


BROAD    INFLUENCE   OF   THE    NETIIERLAND    REFUGEES         499 

by  no  statistics  showing  its  money  value.  Why  should 
the  chronicler  of  courts  and  factions,  wars  and  political 
intrigues,  or  even  the  student  of  literature,  take  note  of 
its  existence  ?  * 

Still,  this  influence  was  no  less  real,  and  it  throws  light 
on  much  of  the  subsequent  history  of  England :  the  ex- 
tent to  w^hich  the  Bible  came  to  be  read  among  the 
working  people  in  some  sections  of  the  country ;  the  de- 
velopment in  the  same  quarter  of  an  intense  moral  and 
religious  fervor ;  and  the  demand  for  equality  before  the 
law",  which  came  to  the  surface  when  Parliament  or- 
ganized its  army.  In  time,  these  JSTetherlanders,  like 
the  foreigners  who  had  preceded  them,  were  absorbed 
into  the  mass  of  the  population,  or  went  back  to  their 
old  homes.  The  remorseless  and  demoralizing  factory 
system  w^as  developed,  taking  the  place  of  the  little 
workshops  in  the  private  dwellings ;  an  aristocracy  of 
wealth  arose  to  supplement  and  reinforce  that  of  birth ; 
the  small  freeholds  were  swallowed  up  by  the  vast  es- 
tates ;  the  English  yeoman  and  the  Netherland  artisan 
disappeared  together.  These  changes  have  been  momen- 
tous in  their  effects  upon  the  national  character,  but  they 
were  brought  about  after  the  settlement  of  America, 
and  come  only  indirectly  within  the  scope  of  the  present 
work.     It  is  important,  however,  to  bear  in  mind  that  a 


*  In  the  Introduction  to  his  "Etymological  Dictionary,"  Prof. 
Walter  "W.  Skeat,  of  Cambridge,  refers  very  briefly  to  the  great  but 
unacknowledged  influence  of  the  Dutch  ujoon  English  history,  dat- 
ing from  the  time  of  Edward  III.,  and  particularly  noticeable  in  the 
days  of  Elizabeth.  His  remarks,  however,  are  only  suggestive  of  an 
unexplored  field  of  research  to  which  he  claims  to  have  first  called 
attention,  having  probably  been  attracted  to  it  by  the  number  of 
Dutch  words  in  the  English  language,  while  there  arc  very  few  of 
modern  German  origin. 


500       THE   PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,   AND   AMERICA 

great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  last  two  centuries 
and  a  half;  and  that  the  English  Puritans,  the  course  of 
whose  development  we  are  attempting  to  trace,  the  men 
who  founded  ]^ew  England  and  marched  to  victory 
under  Cromwell,  bore  little  resemblance  to  the  machine- 
like beings  who  have  succeeded  them  in  the  factory  and 
field. 

If  the  presence  in  England  of  these  Netherland  ref- 
ugees had  produced  no  other  effects  than  those  already 
noticed,  their  immigration  would  be  one  of  the  memor- 
able events  of  history.  Certainly  no  body  of  men,  seek- 
ing an  asylum  in  distress,  ever  brought  such  gifts  to 
repay  their  benefactors.  But  there  was  another  result 
of  their  presence,  more  immediate  and  therefore  more 
striking. 

The  great  struggle  for  civil  liberty  in  England,  to 
which  Puritanism  gave  birth,  did  not  fairly  open  until 
after  Elizabeth  had  passed  away,  friendless  and  un- 
lamented.  It  ultimately  settled  the  question  between  a 
despotic  and  a  constitutional  form  of  government  for  the 
English  nation.  Meantime,  however,  another  question 
had  to  be  determined — whether,  when  foes  on  all  sides 
were  plotting  its  destruction,  there  would  remain  such  a 
thing  as  an  English  nation  at  all.  It  is  customary  to 
point  to  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada  as  the 
event  which  decided  that  issue.  But  the  cause  of  Eng- 
lish Catholicism,  the  foe  of  the  national  existence,  was 
dead  before  Philip's  fleet  ever  set  sail  from  home. 
Kothing  was  needed  except  to  give  it  a  fitting  burial. 
That  it  certainly  received  when  the  doomed  Spanish 
ships  went  down  before  the  elements.  JSTo  monarch, 
not  even  the  greatest  conqueror  falling  on  the  field  of 
battle,  could  ask  for  a  nobler  resting-place  than  the 
ocean,  or  a  funeral  train  more  majestic  than  that  which 


THE  WAK   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS  AS  AN    OBJECT-LESSON        501 

followed,  even  into  its  grave,  the  Lost  Cause  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

The  contest,  in  which  English  Catholicism  as  a  polit- 
ical power  disappeared  forever,  was  carried  on  partly 
by  land  and  partly  by  sea  during  the  first  twenty-five 
years  of  Elizabeth's  reign.  It  was  to  some  extent,  as 
we  have  seen,  a  theological  warfare,  but,  after  all,  dog- 
mas played  but  a  small  part  in  its  settlement.  Prot- 
estantism won  the  victory  because  the  English  people 
came  to  believe  that  the  Spaniards,  who  to  them  repre- 
sented the  papacy,  were  tyrannical,  treacherous,  cruel, 
and,  what  perhaps  influenced  them  not  the  least,  the 
natural  enemies  of  their  material  prosperity.  To  estab- 
lish such  a  belief,  something  was  needed  besides  the  lofty 
teachings  of  the  Puritan  divines,  or  the  exemplary  lives 
of  the  I^etherland  refugees.  ^ 

That  want  was  mainly  supplied  by  the  drama  acted 
in  the  Netherlands,  where  Spain,  although  unconscious 
of  the  fact,  was  fighting  for  her  life.  It  required  some 
education  to  read  the  Bible  and  to  comprehend  the  dif- 
ference between  the  conflicting  creeds,  but  here  was  a 
series  of  object-lessons  which  the  most  illiterate  could 
understand.  The  exhibition  during  the  reign  of  Mary 
had  taught  the  people  much ;  but  that  lesson  was  on  a 
petty  scale,  and  was  brief  in  its  duration.  This  was  a 
tragedy  that  went  on  year  after  year,  and  was  to  con- 
tinue for  more  than  the  lifetime  of  a  man  as  allot- 
ted by  the  Psalmist.  Its  victims,  instead  of  being 
counted  by  the  score,  were  numbered  by  the  tens  of 
thousands. 

Time  softened  the  recollections  of  the  Marian  perse- 
cution. The  ignorance,  corruption,  and  immorality  in 
the  Established  Church  turned  many  men  from  a  Refor- 
mation which  could  bear  such  fruits.    In  the  northern 


502       THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA 

and  western  counties,  the  reaction  in  favor  of  the  old 
faith  was  very  marked  when  the  Jesuits  and  seminary 
priests  began  their  missionary  labors.  But  nothing  ever 
thus  affected  the  population  of  the  southern  and  eastern 
counties.  They  knew  too  well  what  was  meant  by  a 
Catholic  restoration.  Their  towns  were  filled  with  in- 
telligent, truthful  men,  every  one  of  whom  was  a  living 
witness  to  tales  of  horror,  compared  with  which  the 
worst  atrocities  described  in  Foxe's  "Book  of  Martyrs" 
almost  dwindled  into  insignificance.  A  few  years  ago 
an  American  scholar  exhumed  the  old  records  and  laid 
this  story  before  the  world.  Its  narration,  even  on  the 
cold  printed  page,  stirs  a  fever  in  the  veins  of  the  prac- 
tical, unimpassioned  man  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Let 
the  reader  now  try  to  imagine  what  was  the  effect  upon 
the  English  people,  when,  by  the  fireside  and  in  the 
market-place,  this  tale  w^as  told  by  thousands  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  who  themselves  had  seen  the  scaf- 
folds running  with  blood,  the  flames  blazing  up  around 
the  stake,  the  sacking  of  towns,  tlie  violation  of  mothers, 
and  the  indiscriminate  massacre  of  the  white-haired 
grandfather  and  the  helpless  babe. 

It  was  not  necessary  that  the  auditors  should  possess 
any  deep  religious  convictions  to  be  affected  by  such  re- 
citals. They  belonged  to  a  race  who  were  then  among 
the  most  romantic  and  poetical  that  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Everything  in  their  lives  had  tended  to  develop 
these  characteristics.  In  summer,  the  landsmen  watched 
their  sheep,  surrounded  by  goblins  and  fairies,  attendant 
spirits  always  bred  in  the  imaginations  of  men  engaged 
in  such  pursuits.  In  the  long  winter  days,  they  had 
little  to  do  e:j^cept  to  indulge  in  the  rudest  of  sports, 
tempered  in  the  evening  by  the  songs  of  their  minstrels, 
who  were  pre-eminently  a  national  institution,  forerun- 


IMPRESSIONABLE   NATURE    OP   THE   ENGLISH   PEOPLE         503 

ners  of  the  host  of  singing  birds  that  gave  us  the  poetry 
of  the  Elizabethan  age."^^ 

The  men  who  lived  on  the  sea-coast  were  even  more 
governed  by  their  feelings  and  imagination.  !N^avigation 
is  to-day  a  matter  of  science.  Yessels  are  propelled  and 
steered  by  machinery.  Every  course  is  laid  down  on  a 
chart,  every  harbor  has  been  sounded,  every  market  has 
been  studied.  Three  hundred  years  ago,  to  the  British 
sailor  the  world,  outside  a  very  narrow  range,  was  an 
unexplored  domain.  It  was  a  fairy  region  in  which 
nothing  was  impossible,  little  improbable.  For  such  a 
people  Shakespeare  wrote  his  plays.  To  them  the 
witches  of  "  Macbeth,"  the  ghost  in  "  Hamlet,"  the  "  men 
whose  heads  do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders,"  were  as 
real  as  any  of  the  persons  who  lived  about  them.  These 
Elizabethan  Englishmen,  with  their  poetical  and  chival- 
ric  instincts,  were  as  impressionable  as  children,  and  as 
easily  affected  by  anything  which  outraged  their  sense 
of  justice,  provided  they  themselves  were  not  the  ag- 
gressors. In  addition  to  this,  they  had  the  love  of  ad- 
venture which  has  always  marked  the  race.  It  was 
impossible  that  such  men  should  be  unaffected  by  such 
a  war  as  was  going  on  before  their  very  eyes. 

The  first  class  in  the  community,  moved  to  take  an  ac- 
tive part  in  the  struggle,  was,  as  might  be  expected,  not 
composed  of  the  religious  or  even  the  sober-minded  ele- 


*  Guizot's  "  Shakespeare,"  pp.  38,  40.  lu  1315,  the  Royal  Coun- 
cil, being  desirous  to  suppress  vagabondage,  forbade  all  persons  ex- 
cept minstrels  to  stop  at  the  houses  of  prelates,  earls,  and  barons  to 
eat  or  drink ;  nor  might  there  enter  on  each  day,  into  such  houses, 
"  more  than  three  or  four  minstrels  of  honor,"  unless  the  proprietor 
himself  invited  a  larger  number.  ,  In  the  days  of  Elizabeth  the  min- 
strels had  fallen  into  some  disrepute,  but  they  had  left  their  impress 
on  the  national  character.     Drake,  p.  370. 


504       THE    PURITAN    IN    HOLLAND,    ENGLAND,  AND    AMERICA 

ment.  It  was  made  up  of  the  men  whom  civil  convul- 
sions usually  bring  to  the  surface,  the  scum  of  society, 
broken-down  adventurers,  who,  having  gambled  away  all 
else,  have  nothing  left  but  their  lives  for  stakes.  How 
they  took  to  the  sea,  and  by  their  piracies  reflected  dis- 
credit on  the  English  name,  we  have  seen  in  a  former 
chapter.  Those  who,  at  the  outset,  crossed  over  to  the 
I^etherlands  and  offered  their  services  to  the  insurgents 
for  the  war  by  land,  were  of  much  the  same  character. 
Some  did  good  service  in  the  siege  of  Harlem,  forming 
part  of  the  heroic  garrison  which  was  massacred  at  its 
ca]3ture.  But  the  majority  were  of  a  different  stamp, 
being  willing  to  fight  on  the  side  which  gave  the  larger 
pay.  So  dangerous  was  the  treachery  among  them 
that,  in  1573,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  unable  to  distinguish 
friend  from  foe,  determined  to  send  them  all  home,  and 
they  were  accordingly  dismissed.* 

Five  years  elapsed  before  it  was  deemed  safe  to  re- 
enlist  any  more  English  troops.  In  the  interval,  a  de- 
cided change  had  taken  place  in  public  feeling.  Eliza- 
beth was  pursuing  her  accustomed  system  of  vacillation. 
If  the  patriots  gained  a  victory  she  inclined  to  give  them 
aid ;  but  in  their  misfortunes,  when  assistance  was  most 
needed,  she  always  professed  herself  the  friend  of  Spain. 
It  was  not  so,  however,  with  her  councillors,  Burghley 
and  Walsingham.  They  saw  that  in  the  success  of  the 
Netherland  revolt  lay  the  safety  of  England,  and  they 
encouraged  in  its  behalf  the  Puritan  sentiment,  which 
was  slowly  developing  into  fanaticism.  The  corsairs  on 
the  sea  were  extending  their  field  of  operations.     From 


*  Froude,  xi.  33.  Some  of  these  volunteers  exhibited  the  ferocity 
in  the  Netherlands  which  their  countrymen  had  shown  in  Ireland. 
Froude,  x.  393. 


ENGLISH    SOLDIERS   IN    THE    NETHERLANDS  505 

plundering  defenceless  merchant-men,  they  were  reach- 
ing out  to  strike  the  guarded  treasure-ships,  and  even 
to  invade  the  sacred  colonies  of  Spain.  When  unsuc- 
cessful, they  learned,  at  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition, 
what  the  peaceful,  unhappy  Netherlanders  had  endured 
for  years.  Their  tales  of  suffering  confirmed  those  of 
the  refugees,  who,  with  fifty  thousand  tongues,  were  pro- 
claiming the  atrocities  of  Spain. 

In  1578,  just  after  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zee- 
land  had  driven  out  the  foreign  invaders,  Elizabeth,  on 
ample  security,  loaned  the  insurgent  states  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  and  furnished  them  with  five  thousand 
troops  to  be  supported  at  their  own  charge.  Sir  John 
ISTorris  was  in  command,  a  man  who  had  already  shown 
in  Ireland  the  ferocity  of  the  English  nature,  but  who 
was  an  able  soldier,  incorruptible,  and  devoted  solel}^  to 
the  cause  which  he  espoused.  Thenceforth,  and  until 
the  termination  of  the  war,  there  poured  into  the  Low 
Countries  a  constant  stream  of  English  soldiers.  ISTot 
only  did  they  do  heroic  service  in  the  field,  but  they  knit 
more  closely  than  before  the  ties  by  which  the  two  coun- 
tries were  united.  In  the  end,  the  army  of  Prince  Mau- 
rice was  to  become  the  military  training-school  of  Eu- 
rope, but  that  was  after  the  death  of  "William  of  Orange, 
when  his  son  had  developed  into  the  greatest  general  of 
the  age.  I^ow,  however,  the  English  and  the  peaceful 
Hollanders  were  just  learning  the  art  of  war,  and  the 
former,  bred  to  out-door  martial  sports,  naturally  proved 
the  readiest  scholars.  Again,  as  in  times  long  past,  they 
were  fighting  on  Continental  soil ;  and  at  Rymenant  in 
1578,*  at  Steenwyk  in  1581,f  and  under  the  walls  of 


*  Froude,  xi.  146. 

t  Motley's  "  Dutch  Republic,"  iii.  500. 


506       THE    PUKITAN    IN    HOLLAND,   ENGLAND,   AND    AMERICA 

Ghent,  in  1582,*  the  English  soldiers,  led  by  the  gal- 
lant Korris,  proved  that  they  had  not  lost  the  ances- 
tral courage  which  won  the  victories  of  Cressy  and 
Agincourt. 

It  was  under  these  combined  influences,  working  from 
within  and  from  without,  that  an  intense  spirit  of  na- 
tionality was  growing  up  in  England,  which,  added  to 
a  developing  Puritanism,  left  but  a  hopeless  future  to 
those  who  looked  for  a  Catholic  revival.  Still,  for  many 
years,  Elizabeth  was  little  moved,  and  nothing  could  in- 
duce her  to  an  open  alliance  with  the  Reformers.  She 
went  on  intriguing  now  with  France,  and  then  again 
with  Spain ;  lending  a  little  money  to  the  JSTetherlanders, 
and  shortly  afterwards  demanding  its  immediate  repay- 
ment ;  sending  troops,  and  then  recalling  them  in  anger ; 
ever  seeking  to  save  herself,  no  matter  what  became 
either  of  her  allies  or  of  the  Protestant  religion.  But 
from  the  time  that  the  Jesuits  and  seminary  priests  en- 
tered upon  their  invasion  of  the  kingdom,  even  her  eyes 
began  to  open,  although,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  the 
effect  which  external  danger  produced  upon  her  was 
very  different  from  that  which  it  produced  upon  the  na- 
tion itself. 

The  first  outside  light  came  from  Ireland.  That  ill- 
fated  satrapy  had  been  conquered  by  Henry  IL,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  under  a  buU  from  the  pope,  who  claimed 
jurisdiction  over  it  as  an  isle  of  the  sea.  It  was  de- 
scribed as  almost  a  heathen  land,  and  the  professed  ob- 
jects of  the  English  were  to  Christianize  and  civilize  its 
people.  How  these  objects  have  been  carried  out,  dur- 
ing the  past  six  centuries,  the  world  knows  by  heart. 
Ireland  is  a  small  field,  but  it  is  one  in  which  the  worst 


*  Froude,  xi.  596. 


CATHOLIC    UPIIISING   IN    IRELAND  507 

side  of  the  English  nature  has  been  thoroughly  dis- 
played. Everything  has  been  attempted  for  the  con- 
querors, nothing  for  the  conquered.  The  result  has  been 
a  constant  slow  fever  of  discontent,  broken  only  by  inter- 
mittent revolutions.  During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  the 
revolutions  seemed  chronic,  for,  added  to  all  former 
grievances,  was  finally  the  attempt  to  take  away  the 
old  religion,  the  sole  remaining  link  which  bound  the 
island  to  its  famous  past,  when  it  re-Christianized  its 
neighbor.  We  have  already  seen  something  of  the  fe- 
rocity developed  in  the  earlier  Irish  wars.  It  was  now 
to  be  exhibited  on  a  broader  scale,  since  a  religious  ele- 
ment  was  added. 

For  years,  Philip  had  been  urged  to  attack  England 
from  the  side  of  Ireland,  but  he  had  persistently  refused. 
He  hoped  that  Elizabeth  would  be  reconciled  with  Eome. 
and,  even  though  she  died  a  nominal  Protestant,  her 
next  heir  was  still  alive,  and  that  heir  was  a  professed 
Catholic.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  felt  loath  to 
provoke  an  open  warfare.  But,  in  1580,  Erancis  Drake 
was  returning  home  from  his  piratical  circuit  of  the 
globe,  English  soldiers  were  pouring  into  the  ]N"ether- 
lands  by  thousands,  and  it  began  to  dawn  on  the  slow- 
vritted  Philip  that  the  war  which  he  was  trying  to  avoid 
had  already  opened.  He  therefore  consented  to  the  fit- 
ting-out in  his  port  of  several  vessels,  which  carried 
eight  hundred  troops,  mostly  Italians  furnished  by  the 
pope,  to  aid  some  Irish  insurgents.  They  landed  in  Ire- 
land, in  September,  1580,  just  after  the  Jesuits  Parsons 
and  Campian  had  entered  on  their  missionary  work  in 
England.  All  England  w^as  aroused,  and  volunteers 
flocked  forward — among  them  being  Walter  Ealeigh  and 
Edmund  Spenser  the  poet — to  defend  the  cause  of  Eng- 
lish nationality  and  the  Protestant  religion. 


508      THE   PURITAN   IN   HOLLAND,  ENGLAND,  AND   AMERICA 

The  open  hostilities  were  not  of  long  duration,  for 
they  continued  only  about  a  year.  Then  the  rebels 
broke  up  into  little  bands  of  wandering  outlaws,  to  be 
hunted  down  and  slaughtered  like  wild  beasts.  The 
work  of  extermination  lasted  for  two  years  more.  When 
it  ended,  the  province  of  Munster  was  substantially  de- 
populated, and  the  remainder  of  the  island  reduced  to  al- 
most utter  barbarism.*  On  neither  side  was  mercy  shown 
or  quarter  given  on  account  of  age  or  sex.  Among  the 
Irish  this  was  to  be  expected,  for  they  were  semi-sav- 
ages fighting  for  their  homes.  But  to  understand  the 
conduct  of  the  English,  we  must  remember  that  to  them 
the  Irish  were  more  than  savages — they  were  Papists, 
children  of  a  Church  which,  to  the  average  English- 
man, was  beginning  to  represent  the  embodiment  of  all 
iniquity.  The  men  who  consigned  to  indiscriminate 
slaughter  the  half-naked  kern,  with  his  defenceless  wife 
and  nursing  babe,  thought  they  were  doing  the  work 
of  God.  In  the  Old  Testament  they  found  such  les- 
sons, and  for  the  Gospel  of  Peace  they  were  as  yet  un- 
prepared. 

The  stories  of  the  Irish  massacres  which  followed  the 
Reformation  make  a  sad  tale  to  read,  but,  apart  from 
their  bearing  on  other  questions,  they  form  an  important 
chapter  in  the  history  of  English  Puritanism.  Each  re- 
turning soldier  came  back  with  a  new  hatred  of  the  Cath- 
olics, aroused,  perhaps,  more  by  the  injuries  which  he  had 
inflicted  than  by  those  which  he  had  suffered,  but  no 
less  bitter  on  that  account.  In  addition,  there  was  many 
an  English  soldier  lying  in  an  unknown  Irish  grave, 


*  Froude,  xi.  252-287.  See  also  Lecky's  "England  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth Century,"  ii.  104,  etc.,  for  an  account  of  the  English  atrocities, 
surpassing  anything  perpetrated  by  Alva  in  the  Netherlands. 


ENGLISH    PEOTESTANTISM    GAINING    FORCE  509 

whose  kinsmen  cried  out  for  vengeance  on  all  Papists, 
Thus  from  two  quarters,  the  Netherlands  and  Ireland, 
the  current  of  Protestantism  in  England  was  gaining 
force.  As  for  Elizabeth,  she  was  slowly  learning  that, 
even  in  her  unavowed  warfare,  there  were  blows  to  be 
received  as  well  as  to  be  given.  How  this  lesson  was 
to  be  impressed  uj)ou  her  from  other  directions  will  be 
shown  in  the  next  chapters. 


-USD    OF   VOL.    I, 


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